ACCUSED DRUG RUNNERS WILL GO STRAIGHT TO TRIAL

An alleged ring of marijuana smugglers will be tried in B.C. Supreme Court
without a preliminary hearing.

The Crown has won approval from the Attorney General to go straight to
trial against six Okanagan residents without a preliminary inquiry. Most
people charged with indictable offences have the benefit of the hearing, a
kind of rehearsal before the trial.

The six are charged with conspiring to export large amounts of marijuana
from Canada to the U.S. via airplane, snowmobile and other means between
November 1998 and August 1999.

Charged are Colin Hugh Martin, Damyer Jules Martin, Frederick George
Zacharias, Patrick Tyrone Roberts, Ronald Keith Davy and Donald Jules Martin.

Colin and Donald Martin are charged with possessing $217,870 in American
cash near Midway on Feb. 15, 1998. Police say the money was the proceeds of
crime.

The two men and Damyen Martin are also charged with possessing $315,620 US
in crime proceeds in Kelowna on Feb. 21, 1999.

Others are charged with cultivating marijuana and possession for the
purpose of trafficking in Salmon Arm.

Lawyers will gather on Sept. 20 to fix a date for the B.C. Supreme Court
trial in Kelowna.