Pubdate: Tue, 18 Dec 2007 Source: Province, The (CN BC) Copyright: 2007 The Province Contact: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476 Author: Keith Fraser ACCUSED DRUG TRAFFICKER GETS $4-MILLION BAIL An alleged international drug trafficker who has been fighting extradition to the U.S. for nearly 10 years has been released on $4-million bail while he seeks leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. Ranjit Singh Cheema, who put up the bail through 19 sureties from relatives and friends, is wanted in the U.S. on charges, filed in February 1998, that he conspired to import and traffic in heroin and hashish. American authorities say Cheema intended to trade with California-based Colombian drug-traffickers 200 kilograms of heroin from Pakistan for 800 kilograms of cocaine. Cheema allegedly planned to bring the cocaine to B.C. and is said to have made payments of $1 million toward the purchase of the heroin, which he planned to sell for $12 million to $14 million in cocaine. In June, the B.C. Court of Appeal denied his appeal of an extradition order and he was taken into custody. Noting that it was "significant" that Cheema had previously been on $1-million bail for more than nine years, B.C. Court of Appeal Justice Jo-Ann Prowse found in early November that his continued detention "is not necessary in the public interest in all of the circumstances." Cheema was released on a number of conditions, including that he reside at his parents' Vancouver home and that he not have any contact with other people named in the drug indictment. He must also surrender his passport and any other travel documents. His lawyer, Richard Peck, said he expects it could be a "couple of months" before the Supreme Court decides whether to hear the appeal. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek