MOB LINKED TO SEIZED SHIP

Mounties Suspect Large Ring Behind Effort; Use Technology
And Manpower To Ferret Out Drugs

RCMP suspect organized crime played a role in the attempted
importation of Mexican marijuana worth $6.5 million.

"Behind every large importation of drugs there's a distribution
network and you're talking about different groups involved in these
things," said Insp. Paul Nadeau at a Friday press conference beside
the MV Bakur, moored at CFB Esquimalt.

The 47-metre former fishboat had been towed to Esquimalt following its
seizure early Monday by RCMP and Canadian Border Services Agency
officials in Ucluelet. Its five male crew were arrested on charges of
drug smuggling.

Nadeau and Diane Kavelaars, chief of coastal operations for the CBSA,
answered media questions at CFB Esquimalt's F Jetty on the Colwood
side of Esquimalt harbour. The air still had a tang of 10 tonnes of
rotten fish, part of the cargo unloaded from the Bakur, tied up nearby.

Searchers used pinhole cameras, fire axes and other tools to penetrate
false partitions in the vessel and uncover 3,600 pounds of Mexican
marijuana, a less-potent drug than B.C.-grown hydroponically grown
drug.

RCMP value the Mexican marijuana at $1,800 a pound, the B.C. product
at $2,400 a pound.

A Newfoundland man, meanwhile, is speaking out about his experiences
aboard the Bakur.

He and a few others were hired as crew in Halifax and left in the
Caribbean, after reporting they had been threatened and were not paid.

Robert Forsey told a Vancouver radio station that he thought it was a
regular fishing trip until a couple days out of port, when the skipper
and other crew got nervous about approaching boats and "They used to
haul out the machine-guns with the night vision goggles looking at
ships ... to see what was around us."

Forsey said that plans called for cocaine to be taken on board, but
none has yet been found. Forsey said he and others were threatened but
were able to escape in Trinidad and find refuge at the Canadian Embassy.

Nadeau said he "has no reason to disbelieve" the stories Forsey is
telling the media. It's unlikely that cocaine might have been disposed
of, said Nadeau.

"I don't know why they would dump the cocaine and keep the marijuana
- -- I don't think there's a big advantage in that."

Nadeau said the former crew members have been interviewed by police.
"One of them took pictures of a firearm that supposed to be on board.
We have not found any firearms on the vessel. That's not to say people
didn't get rid of them before they got here."

The crew may have picked Ucluelet as the arrival point because it's
relatively secluded, he said.

"People will take high risks in order to do these things. Maybe
pulling into a secluded area such as Ucluelet was part of the plan to
avoid running into law enforcement, but as you know it didn't quite
work out for them."

The RCMP began watching the ship in October 2005. The vessel left
Halifax in December and Mounties monitored its voyage down to the
Panama Canal and up to the West Coast.

The search of the ship has been systematic, said Kavelaars.

The first lot of 142 bales of marijuana was discovered on a false
ceiling between the hold and hold cover.

"We analyzed the plans of the ship and compared it to the actual
structure. This is how we found the false wall down below in the
forward end of the ship leading to a hidden room that contained an
additional 23 bales of marijuana."

Searchers also noticed that there were more hatch covers than were
displayed on the ship's plans, raising their curiosity.

"Our officers removed the bolts and covers ... to examine inside these
spaces."

The search continued Friday with audible tapping of inside walls of
the ship and small holes being drilled for an examination by cameras.

"There's some new-looking concrete in one area of the vessel, so we're
bringing in a jackhammer in order to satisfy ourselves that there's
nothing concealed," said Kavelaars.

They are in custody awaiting their next court appearance on Monday in
Victoria.