OPIUM SMUGGLING SENTENCE OVERTURNED

Appeal Court Rules Trial Unfair That Resulted In Jail For NV
Residents

Two North Vancouver residents convicted of importing opium will be
retried, after the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled that their original
trial was unfair.

Reza Eshghabadi, 47, and his wife Ashraf Nabiloo, 39, were originally
convicted by a B.C. Supreme Court jury of importing 3.5 kilograms of
opium hidden inside hollow picture frames shipped from the Middle East
in 2003.

They were sentenced in January: Eshghabadi to five years in jail on two
charges of importing opium and three years for possession for the purpose of
trafficking, and Nabiloo to three years for importing and 30 months for
possession for the purpose of trafficking.

Lawyers for the couple immediately appealed their convictions,
complaining that the trial judge allowed Crown counsel Judy Kliewer to
ask leading questions during cross-examination of their clients.

Kliewer had asked Eshghabadi, who answered through a translator, about
an earlier, unrelated shipment of goods from Iran, insinuating that it
also contained hidden drugs. The defence objected to the line of
questioning, but Supreme Court Justice David Masuhara allowed it, and
did not instruct the jury to ignore it.

In a unanimous decision by three appeal court judges, Judge John Hall
wrote, "I am unable to comprehend on what basis counsel for the Crown
at trial could suggest to the appellant Eshghabadi . . . that he had
been involved in earlier shipments of drugs when he was not facing
charges about any such activity."

Police and customs officials arrested the pair in November of 2003
after intercepting two shipments at Vancouver International Airport.
In both cases, large amounts of opium were concealed inside hollow
picture frames.

The first shipment came from Iran, and the drug-filled frames were
placed at the bottom of a container holding 24 cases of melons. In the
second shipment, the concealed opium was part of a glassware shipment
from Dubai. A total of 3.5 kilograms of opium was hidden inside the
two shipments.

When the couple arrived at the airport to receive the second shipment,
police followed them back to their apartment on West 16th Avenue in
North Vancouver, where they were later arrested.

During the trial, defence lawyers Dan Sudeyko and Camran Chaichian
argued that the two were opium addicts who had no knowledge of the
hidden drugs and were framed by a former business partner.

A drug expert who testified for the Crown disputed that, and said it's
unlikely the amount of opium involved would be for personal use, even
if the two defendants were heavy addicts.

The total value of the opium in the two shipments was estimated to be
$77,000 if sold by the kilogram and $175,000 if sold by the gram.

Eshghabadi and Nabiloo made their first appearances in the new trial
on Wednesday.

The couple immigrated to Canada from Iran in 1995 and 1996, and both
are now landed immigrants.

Because they don't have full citizenship, they stand to be deported
from the country unless their convictions are overturned.