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Monday, March 05, 2007

In The (Canadian) Navy



They are calling it a loophole, but the crew of the Canadian frigate HMCS Fredericton have another name for it: Genius.

The HMCS Fredericton was patrolling for drug-runners off the African coast last year and crew members came up with the idea to subsidize the cost of beer from profits of the sale of duty-free tobacco. According to media reports, HMCS Fredericton officers and crew ran a tobacco and alcohol scheme throughout the 44-day deployment to maintain the sailors' morale. The ship had been on fisheries duty and then sent on the extend drug patrol.

The ship's canteen added the tax amount to duty-free cigarettes to stay within Navy policy to not encourage tobacco use. The extra funds then went towards subsidizing beer for crew members.

During its mission the HMCS Fredericton seized 22.5 tons of hashish while off Angola. The Canadian Navy had been alerted to the shipment headed for Montreal.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Back in the 70's, the sailors simply divided up and sold the hash once they got home. They didn't have to go through all these Sgt. Bilko style "loopholes."

Besides, Canadians prefer homegrown bubble hash over this imported soapbar crap. Besides, Bringing hash into Montreal is like bringing weed into Jamaica - pretty dumb, since it's an inferior product.