LAWYER SAYS POT CHARGE SHOULD GO UP IN SMOKE

The lawyer for a Halifax County man caught with more than two dozen
kilograms of marijuana at Halifax International Airport tried Thursday
to convince three Appeal Court judges that his conviction should be
thrown out.

Warren Zimmer, who is representing Paul Kenneth Creelman, argued that
the search warrants that led police to find 28 kilograms of pot in his
client's luggage were not valid and as a result the evidence should
never have been admitted in a 2005 trial.

Mr. Creelman was convicted of possession of drugs for the purposes of
trafficking. He was sentenced last July to 4 1/2 years in prison.

Mr. Zimmer said tips from two police informants led officers to apply
for a series of search warrants to check Mr. Creelman's bags, as well
as his travel records with Air Canada and CanJet.

He said police failed to take the time to verify the information they
received before acting on it.

"Just because the informant is reliable doesn't mean his information
is," Mr. Zimmer told Nova Scotia Appeal Court justices Thomas
Cromwell, Nancy Bateman and Linda Oland.

Mr. Zimmer said members of Halifax Regional Police searched Mr.
Creelman's bags in a private area of the airport in February 2003.

Once they determined what was in the bags, he said, they allowed the
luggage to continue on a conveyor belt to the arrivals area, where an
unsuspecting Mr. Creelman picked them up and left. The officers
followed Mr. Creelman to his truck and arrested him.

Police then searched Mr. Creelman's Antrim home, uncovering large
amounts of cash and drug paraphernalia. In total, police seized 28.3
kilograms of marijuana worth an estimated $600,000.

Mr. Zimmer questioned the basis on which Judge William Digby granted
the search warrants on Jan. 29 and 30, 2003.

Federal Crown attorney James Martin, however, argued that there was
corroborating evidence to support the tips that prompted Judge Digby
to issue the search warrants.

A written decision on the appeal will be released at a later date.