CANADA WILL PROSECUTE FIVE ARRESTED IN NW'S LARGEST COCAINE BUST

The largest cocaine bust by U.S. officials in the Northwest will be
prosecuted in Canada, sources confirmed yesterday.

Law-enforcement officials on both sides of the border say the United States
Attorney's Office in Seattle and Canadian officials have agreed that Canada
will handle the case, involving two tons of cocaine taken off a Canadian
fishing boat by the U.S. Coast Guard last week.

The ship and the drugs, estimated by authorities as worth between $30
million and $40 million on the street, apparently were bound for Canada.

Five people were arrested, and the fact they hadn't been charged has fueled
speculation that there may have been a legal problem with U.S. authorities
boarding the ship and seizing the drugs.

One federal law-enforcement source said the case has presented an "evidence
management problem" that predated the seizure and involved Canadian
officials. The source declined to elaborate.

"To the extent that we did have a problem (with the case), we don't now
because it is headed for Canada," the source said. "They are better
equipped to deal with it."

A Canadian law-enforcement official would say only that the case is
"extremely sensitive" but confirmed the case was headed north.

The ship, the Western Wind, was registered in Canada when it was stopped in
the Strait of Juan de Fuca by a Coast Guard cutter. U.S. authorities had
been alerted to the ship around Christmas.

"We had specific, hard intelligence about this craft, and we passed it on,"
the Canadian said.

The source said it was unclear where the ship went after it left Victoria.
Some of the 101 parcels of cocaine seized by Customs agents were labeled
azucar, or sugar in Spanish.

The source said the drugs were to be distributed by outlaw motorcycle gangs
operating in Vancouver, Calgary and elsewhere in Canada.

There has been speculation that the boat may have been in international
waters when it was stopped. U.S. Attorney Kate Pflaumer and the unnamed
sources insist the ship was in U.S. waters.

The question is whether the Coast Guard had an adequate reason to board the
vessel if it was not leaving from or heading toward a U.S. port. The
country where the ship is registered can give such approval, Pflaumer said.

Pflaumer had said she would announce today whether her office will seek
charges against the crew. She was not available to comment on the report
that Canada would undertake the prosecution.

Four of those arrested are Canadian citizens; the fifth is a Native
American with dual U.S.-Canadian citizenship. The Canadians have been
detained by the Immigration and Naturalization Service while the other
suspect was ordered held as a material witness by a U.S. magistrate.