DRUG SEARCH LEGAL, JUDGE RULES

A Superior Court judge has denied a Charter of Rights challenge to
the way police sought search warrants while investigating a suspected
drug trafficking ring in 2003.

Justice Anthony Cuzinato told the trial of two men and a woman
charged with running a $1-million pot growing operation at four
Windsor locations that police acted "in good faith" in carrying out
searches at a house in the 2400 block of Meldrum Road.

Cuzinato said investigators gleaned enough information from
informants and from arrests made at three other sites to act on their
concerns that evidence might be destroyed at the fourth location. He
earlier decided not to give standing to defence challenges of the
warrants at two other locations.

"I find the perimeter search to have been in good faith at the time
it was carried out," Cuzinato stated. "I find the search lawful and
the evidence obtained admissible."

Through their lawyers, the accused -- Jing Li, 28 and Fan Jiang, 25,
of Windsor and Wwei Kee Chen, 34, of Markham -- sought an
adjournment. The trial will resume today.

The case has progressed in fits and starts since beginning last week.
Initially, an entire day of plea bargaining failed to resolve matters
and the trial began last Wednesday. But the defence immediately
launched the constitutional challenge to the police warrants.

A fourth accused, Shiguang Zheng, 26, of Windsor, failed to appear
for trial. He had been granted leave earlier to travel to China to
seek treatment for diabetes because he had no health coverage in
Canada. But he has since communicated to his lawyer, Kirk Munroe,
that he could not return because of immigration problems.

The Crown alleges the accused were involved in grow-house operations
at the Meldrum address, in the 1200 block of Hickory Road, the 600
block of Brazil Avenue and the 1800 block of Balfour. Police seized
330 marijuana plants, drug paraphernalia and 11 kilograms of loose marijuana.