Star apples stuffed with cocaine

By Jasminee Sahoye

Four Ontario residents are charged with drug-related offences after another shipment of 17 boxes of fresh fruits from Guyana was seized – this time hollowed-out star apples packed with cocaine with a street value of more than $5 million.

Susan Geneva O'Neil, 28, Basil Barnett Blair, 63, and MetussalaMadelaMannings, 27, all of Toronto and Kenneth Arthur Wong, 38, of nearby Ajax, Ont have appeared in court for bail hearing. One of the accused is reportedly a reggae musicianwho played with several bands in Toronto and other places for many years.

The seizure follows an announcement late last month that authorities had seized 28 kilograms of cocaine, estimated at a street value of $3.5 million — in two shipments of hollowed-out pineapples from Guyana at the port in Saint John, N.B.

X-ray technology and drug-sniffing dogs aided in the discovery of the drugs.

RCMP announced Monday that police and Canada Border Services Agency investigators seized 20 kilograms of cocaine from a star apple shipment at Toronto's Pearson International Airport. The star apples were part of a larger shipment from Guyana that included pineapples and mangoes.

RCMP Staff Sgt. Kevin Nicholson said there was no concern of the fruit entering the food chain. Much of it was "mush" by the time it arrived in Canada, he said.

The officer said Guyana is not known to export a lot of fruits to Canada and the shipment raised flags.

Now that authorities have caught on to the use of fresh fruit to smuggle cocaine, it is likely that suppliers will move on to another technique, Nicholson said.