SELF-DESCRIBED DRUG SMUGGLER ARRESTED ON BOAT

Four Others Also Charged As Police Find Drugs On Board MV Bakur

A self-described drug smuggler and four other men were arrested early
yesterday after they moored a ship in Ucluelet that police had been
tailing since last October.

"A quantity of drugs was found aboard the vessel," said Insp. Paul
Nadeau of the RCMP drug squad.

Police had been watching the ship since it left Halifax in October.
They said it travelled down the East Coast, through the Panama Canal
and then up the West Coast and into B.C. waters.

Philip John Stirling, 52, of Chase, and the four other men were
arrested about 2 a.m. after mooring the 144-foot MV Bakur in
Ucluelet. All five are charged with drug smuggling.

The vessel is owned by a Chase-based company.

In February 2001, Stirling and three other men were detained by the
U.S. Coast Guard in Juan de Fuca Strait off Cape Alava in Washington state.

U.S. authorities allegedly found 2.5 tonnes of cocaine on the ship,
which was owned by a Stirling-controlled company.

The Americans eventually released Stirling and his crew into RCMP
custody, took the boat and destroyed the cocaine.

No charges have been laid, in the U.S. or Canada.

Soon after, in a 2002 interview with The Province, Stirling said he
was a convicted drug smuggler and police informant.

Stirling said police had asked him to bring the cocaine into Canada
to help them break up a major Hells Angels drug-smuggling ring.

Stirling claimed that in a series of meetings with the Mounties
between 1999 and 2001, they agreed to his assorted demands.

He said the police later backed out of the deal.

Stirling has since launched a civil action against the RCMP.

Ucluelet harbour manager Stephen Bird said residents saw two and
possibly four RCMP inflatable boats "swarm" the MV Bakur after its
crew tied up shortly after 2 a.m.

"They bailed off the SWAT teams and the canine unit and they seized
the vessel," Bird said.

He said the ship was bigger than most that come into Ucluelet harbour
and appeared to be fitted out for some kind of fishing, but not
anything that would be in season in the North Pacific.

The other men charged are Walberto Armenta-Ruelas, 40, of Mexico,
Sean Michael Cochrane, of Alberta, John Edward Corbin, 46, of Chase,
and Ralph Ross Harris, 66, of Ladysmith.

In 1990, Harris was charged with trafficking after Nanaimo police
seized a large amount of cocaine and marijuana from a Ladysmith home.

The owner of the MV Bakur is listed as Limar Fishing Ltd. of Chase.
Harris and Stirling are directors.

The five men are scheduled to appear in court in Victoria today.