POT RING TERRORIZED FARMERS

Quebec's marijuana has become such a prized export that the dismantling of
a major pot smuggling network in this town near the U.S. border is expected
to have an effect on the area's economy.

Eleven people from the southeastern, mostly rural part of the Eastern
Townships face possible extradition to the United States.

There, they would face charges they conspired to smuggle thousands of
kilograms of marijuana across the border since 1991.

They were among 34 people arrested yesterday as more than 250 police
officers descended on tranquil farms and conducted an early harvest,
ripping up more than 5,500 marijuana plants.

While under a joint investigation by the Surete du Quebec, the RCMP and the
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the members of the network are
alleged to have intimidated local farmers into allowing their land to be
used to grow the illicit weed.

The product was then smuggled across the border, mostly into Vermont, where
it was sold.

"When you look at the overall picture, we've seized bigger quantities and
taken down bigger organizations, like the bikers. But when you look at the
regional aspect of this, the impact of this very important," said Chief
Inspector Richard Begin of the Surete du Quebec.

"People were terrorized, people were seeing all types of criminal
activities. So people wondered: 'Are these guys immune from being
prosecuted or what?'

"After a few years, they thought they were.

"That's why we did a lot of work and we were in for the long haul. We took
an approach where we would be sure that at the end of the investigation, it
would put an end to this organization."

Townshipper Werner Kyling, 62, the man alleged by police to be a "key
player in the drug ring," was among those arrested.

His extradition process is expected to begin at the Montreal courthouse today.

Kyling is well known in the Eastern Townships. He was charged with
kidnapping, but that lengthy trial ended in a stay of proceedings in 2002.

Kyling's brother Karl was shot to death in front of Karl's home in the
Eastern Townships in 1999.

While Werner Kyling was under investigation, he was seen using his personal
helicopter to survey marijuana fields, investigators said yesterday.

He also used the helicopter to locate marijuana fields belonging to rival
growers, police said.

"It's my personal evaluation, but if you look at the goods that were
seized, the money involved and all that, part of that money circulated
through the Bedford region," said Superintendent Martin Morin of the RCMP.

Begin agreed that the marijuana farmers were part of a major underground
economy that had spillover benefits for the area's legitimate businesses.

Through court orders, the police seized more than $5.5 million worth of
real estate and other assets that the provincial government will try to
prove were bought with proceeds of crime.

Five farms were placed under seizure orders.

That includes a 40-hectare farm in St. Armand worth more than $219,000,
according to the municipal evaluation.

The farm's 47-year-old owner faces charges in Granby court of producing
marijuana.

Six of the 11 men rounded up appeared briefly in Quebec Court yesterday
afternoon in Montreal.

As they crowded, handcuffed, into the prisoners' dock, Judge Gilles Garneau
informed them they must return today.

He said Quebec Superior Court has exclusive jurisdiction over extradition
requests and no judge from the higher court was available.

Leaving court, Katia Leontieff, the lawyer representing Kyling, said
evidence gathered against her clients hadn't been disclosed yet.

If the alleged drug smugglers are eventually extradited to the United
States, they face charges of drug smuggling that each carry a mandatory
minimum sentence of 10 years in prison.

In Canada, charges of producing marijuana carry no mandatory sentences.

DEA Special Agent Patrick Cadiello said if the 11 people are prosecuted in
the United States, evidence will show some have been active in drug
smuggling since 1991.