DRUG CASE WILL BE PROSECUTED IN CANADA

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

Law enforcement officials on both sides of the border say the U.S.
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, worth between $30 million and $40 million,
apparently were bound for Canada, the officials said.

Five people were arrested and that fact that they hadn't been charged has
fueled speculation that there may have been a legal problem with the U.S.
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, also speaking on condition of
anonymity, 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, when it left Victoria.

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