MAN TO BE DEPORTED TO CHINA

A 23-year-old man has been ordered deported to China after admitting
his part in tending a marijuana crop late last year.

Jianbao Lin appeared in custody at Regina Provincial Court on
Wednesday and listened to the proceedings with the help of an interpreter.

Acting as an agent for the federal Crown, Hal Wellsch told court Lin
was arrested after police busted a marijuana grow operation in the
Earl Grey area on Dec. 19.

Police located Lin at a Regina house which was raided as part of the
bust, and he admitted to police that he had helped tend the plants on
a few occasions.

Defence lawyer Brian Banilevic said Lin came to Canada from China to
take English classes at the University of Regina. However when Lin's
student visa expired in March 2007, Lin was left unsure of what to do.

"My client had created a bit of a limbo for himself," Banilevic said.

Lin then started renting a room from a man he'd met, and later agreed
to help the man by watering the crop of 195 marijuana plants.

Banilevic said Lin wasn't part of the operation or profiting from it
in any way, and police only learned of his involvement when searching
the Regina house where Lin was living. Lin doesn't have a previous
criminal record.

Lin has been in custody since his arrest, and Judge Leslie Halliday
accepted a joint recommendation by the Crown and defence for a
sentence of time served.

An immigration official was in court during the proceedings, and
Banilevic said Lin will be deported as soon as arrangements can be made.