Pubdate: Thu, 01 Mar 2001
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2001 Southam Inc.
Contact:  300 - 1450 Don Mills Road, Don Mills, Ontario M3B 3R5
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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.
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