The B.C. Court of Appeal upheld the convictions and prison sentences of seven smugglers behind the biggest hashish bust in the province’s history, in a decision released on Monday 11 September 2006.[1] The sentences ranged from two and a half to six years, and the men, free on bail during the appeal, surrendered that morning to authorities in Nanaimo and Vancouver.[1]
Nine people had been found guilty in Vancouver Provincial Court on 13 April 2004 of conspiracy to import and traffic in cannabis resin.[2][3] The trial, which began in April 2001, ended before Judge Elizabeth Arnold with a 256-page ruling after 344 exhibits and 103 witnesses.[2] Those convicted included Kurt Patrick Guilbride of Ladysmith, Ronald Patrick Thomson, a former Chemainus realtor, and Richard Farrington of Cassidy, alongside Sanford Hately, Joel Hately, Ronald Grant, Sylvie Goyer, Kenneth Thomson and Wolfgang Fitznar.[3] They were released on bail to await sentencing.[3]
The case began with a tip in spring 1997 that a British Columbia group was refitting an ageing scallop dragger, the Blue Dawn, in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, launching a 20-month investigation involving 150 officers from the RCMP, Canada Customs, the Canadian Armed Forces, the United States Customs Service, the Coast Guard and the DEA, plus agencies in Europe and the Middle East.[2] On 4 November 1998 the RCMP stormed the fish boat Ansare II in Fanny Bay and seized 9.59 tonnes of hashish being unloaded into a dump truck, while hours later the United States Coast Guard boarded the Blue Dawn about 540 nautical miles northwest of Port Hardy and a further 2.35 tonnes was seized with help from the RCMP and sailors off HMCS Huron.[1] In all 14 people were arrested; five mostly involved with unloading had already been sentenced in Nanaimo in 2000 to terms of three to four years.[1] Police valued the combined haul at an estimated 100 million dollars.[2][3]
