Pubdate: Thu, 01 Mar 2001 Source: National Post (Canada) Copyright: 2001 Southam Inc. Contact: 300 - 1450 Don Mills Road, Don Mills, Ontario M3B 3R5 Fax: (416) 442-2209 Website: http://www.nationalpost.com/ Forum: http://forums.canada.com/~nationalpost Author: Ian Bailey, National Post, with files from The Canadian Press FOUR CHARGED IN BUST GLAD TO BE TRIED IN CANADA VANCOUVER - Four Canadians arrested on a fishing boat carrying more than two tonnes of cocaine got a reprieve of sorts yesterday when U.S. federal prosecutors handed the men over to authorities in Canada, where penalties are lighter. "My client would much prefer the case to be handled up there," said Bob Goldsmith, the Seattle-based lawyer for defendant Kenneth Hubley, 41. "What we're talking about here, if a person's convicted of that amount [of drugs], they're looking at a minimum sentence of 20 years -- absolute minimum," he said. Mr. Hubley and three other men on the Western Wind fishing boat were turned over to the RCMP yesterday after spending about a week in U.S. custody. A fifth man with dual U.S.-Canadian citizenship was released because the U.S. is not proceeding with charges. "The case really does belong in Canada, especially in view of the fact that Canada is considered the victim state," Lawrence Lincoln, a spokesman for the U.S. District Attorney's office in Seattle, said yesterday. Mr. Lincoln noted prosecutors have concluded Canada has a key interest in the case because the cocaine appears to have been destined for Canada when the Canadian-registered Western Wing was intercepted last Thursday by the U.S. Coast Guard in international waters in the Juan de Fuca Strait -- between Vancouver Island and Washington State. Maritime law stipulates that if a ship flies the Canadian flag and is involved in criminal activity in international waters, prosecution should take place in Canada. U.S. enforcement officials were also acting on a Canadian tip when they apprehended the 26.9-metre trawler and found 101 bales of cocaine aboard, one of the largest seizures in the region's history. The ship is owned by a Victoria man, who was sentenced to five years in prison in 1990 after pleading guilty to several cocaine-conspiracy charges. A U.S. Customs official said the drugs would have been worth more than $300-million on Canadian streets. The ship had been tipped for surveillance last year because of suspicions expressed to a coast watch program. "Our office really reached this as a joint and co-operative agreement with Canadian authorities," Mr. Lincoln said. David Zuckerman, court-appointed counsel for defendant Sean Cochrane, 31, said he did not know the exact penalties his client could face if convicted in British Columbia, "but I have no doubt that they're not as harsh as those in the U.S.," he said. According to press reports, another of the arrested men -- Beau Nairn, 18 -- left in December on what he said was a fishing expedition to pay off a credit-card debt. The fourth man in custody has been identified as John Stirling, 46, the ship's owner. - --- MAP posted-by: Andrew