JAILED BOSS OF WORLD DRUG TRADE FACES DEPORTATION UPON RELEASE

Currently Being Sought In Lebanon, Spain For Offences Related To Drug
Trafficking

A globe-trotting drug trafficker with ties to Montreal's Mafia is
expected to be paroled soon.

But Samir Rabbat might not be looking forward to his future outside a
Canadian penitentiary.

Rabbat, 56, was once described by police as one of the top 10 drug
traffickers in the world, with links to men like Vito Rizzuto, the
reputed head of Montreal's Italian Mafia.

The National Parole Board recently decided Rabbat could be granted
early, or accelerated parole.

Inmates convicted of crimes not involving violence have access to the
process that can potentially see them granted day parole after serving
one-sixth of their sentence and full parole after one-third.

In Rabbat's case, the release date appears to be irrelevant as he is
expected to be deported to either Spain or Lebanon as soon as he is
released.

In 1996, Rabbat was wanted in connection with a conspiracy to smuggle
3,500 kilograms of hashish into Canada.

He managed to avoid capture until October 2002, when he was arrested
in Colombia, where he is alleged to have dealt weapons with the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a left-wing rebel group.

The Egyptian-born, former Montreal resident was eventually brought to
Montreal, where he pleaded guilty to taking part in the smuggling
conspiracy on July 8 and was immediately sentenced to nearly 30 months.

But even though he will be paroled soon, Rabbat won't be a free man.
The parole board report details how a detention order has been issued
by Citizenship and Immigration Canada requesting he remain
incarcerated. An immigration official who participated in Rabbat's
parole hearing said he probably faces deportation.

He is currently being sought in both Lebanon and Spain for offences
related to drug trafficking.

In Lebanon, he is being sought in an indictment alleging he tried to
smuggle 250 kilograms of hashish out of the Port of Beirut on Feb. 3,
2001. The hashish was packed in chick pea and bean cans destined for
Canada.

When the indictment was issued, Lebanon's chief investigating
magistrate said he would seek prison sentences between three and 15
years, including hard labour.

During the time he was sought on the Canadian warrant, authorities
believed Rabbat operated out of Marbella, Spain.

During the 1990s, the police suspected Rabbat was getting much of his
hashish through Pakistan from Rehmat Shah Afridi, the owner of an
English-language daily newspaper in that country. This year, Afridi
was sentenced to death for two narcotics convictions.

According to court documents, Rabbat was investigated in 1991 along
with Rizzuto, 58, as suspects in Operation Bedside, an RCMP probe into
in the importation of 450 tonnes of hashish from Lebanon. Rabbat and
Rizzuto were taped having telephone conversations on two occasions in
May 1991.

By then, the police had estimated Rabbat had smuggled more than 110
tonnes of hashish into Canada between 1984 and 1991.

In 1972, Rabbat was arrested in France attempting to ship mattresses
full of marijuana to Canada.

In 1982, he was arrested in Montreal in connection with a $381-million
drug bust made in Greece that had the RCMP following suspects across
Europe.

Rabbat, then 34, was arrested just as he was putting the finishing
touches to a $500,000 house in Montreal's Cartierville district. The
house was being built just a few blocks from Rizzuto's.