CITY MAN FIGHTING EXTRADITION ON DRUG CHARGES LOSES APPEAL

Father Of Two Sought By Australia In One Of B.C.'S Longest-Running Cases

A Vancouver man who has spent the last nine years in a B.C. jail
fighting extradition to Australia on drug trafficking charges has lost
his most recent battle to stay in Canada.

In a judgment released Tuesday, the B.C. Court of Appeal dismissed
Chuck Sun Lau's appeal of his extradition order -- saying he can
legally be returned to Australia to face charges of importing $15
million worth of heroin.

Lau, who is in his mid-40s, is accused of importing 48 kg of heroin
aboard a ship from China with the help of three crew members paid
$20,000 each.

Lau allegedly thought the ship, the MV Trans Aspiration, was heading
to Vancouver. He went to pick up the drugs and was arrested in an
undercover police operation in 1994.

On March 27, 1995, Lau disappeared from his jail cell in Perth and
returned to Vancouver. Two years later, Lau was picked up by Canadian
police on an extradition warrant from Australia.

Lau, who has a wife and two children, has been fighting his
extradition since.

In 2002, Lau won a victory when B.C. Supreme Court Justice Linda Loo
quashed his extradition order.

She found that Lau's Canadian Charter rights had been violated because
Australia may have reneged on a plea bargain with him. She ordered the
Canadian government to reconsider its decision.

The government issued a second extradition order in September 2003,
which Lau then challenged.

That was dismissed by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Bennett in
February 2005, and, on Tuesday, the B.C. Court of Appeal upheld
Bennett's decision.

Lau now has 60 days to seek leave to appeal his case to the Supreme
Court of Canada.

If he doesn't file that application, or the top court refuses to hear
his case, Lau will be sent back to Australia.

Lau's lawyer was not available to comment Tuesday.

Jeff Johnston, the Department of Justice lawyer who argued Lau's case
before the Court of Appeal, said it is one of the longest-running
extradition cases in B.C.

"It's certainly the high water mark in terms of how long it's gone
on," he said.

In 1999, the law on extradition was changed to reduce the avenues of
appeal -- making such long extradition cases less likely.

Lau has spent almost all of the past nine years in a maximum security
jail.

If he is convicted of drug trafficking in Australia, he faces a
maximum sentence of life in prison.