DRUG SMUGGLER OFF ON VACATION

Matticks pleads guilty to conspiracy. Judge agrees to let him leave
country before sentencing - if he has return ticket

Many defendants pack their bags for prison on the day they plead
guilty to a crime, but Donald Matticks will soon be packing his for a
vacation.

A Quebec Court judge yesterday gave the admitted drug importer
permission to leave the country once before his sentencing hearing on
Jan. 18 - as long as he shows his return ticket to a police
investigator in advance.

Matticks and two other members of the West End Gang pleaded guilty
yesterday to being part of a $2.1-billion conspiracy to import huge
quantities of cocaine, cannabis and hashish through the Port of
Montreal between 1999 and 2001.

Matticks, 40, son of West End Gang kingpin Gerald Matticks, admitted
to 14 charges of importing illegal drugs in seven shipments. He worked
for 15 years as a checker at the port, verifying incoming containers.

His lawyer, Pierre Morneau, said a big factor in his client's decision
to plead guilty was vitamin-salesman-turned-informant Luis Lekkas, who
was once Gerald Matticks's right-hand man.

After his arrest in December 2002, Donald Matticks was considered a
potential flight risk and had to post $100,000 bail before his
release. His mother also had to agree to pay $200,000 if he didn't
show up for his court dates.

As is customary, Matticks had to hand over his passport and was
forbidden to leave Quebec.

Morneau said he doesn't see anything extraordinary in asking Judge
Claude Parent to grant his client's special request.

"Often, people want to take one last trip before they find themselves
in a place where the lodging is free because it's at the taxpayers'
expense," he quipped.

Matticks could face a prison sentence in the neighbourhood of eight
years, Morneau said.

His father is currently serving a 15-year term after pleading guilty
to similar charges.

Crown prosecutor Joelle St-Germain said she doesn't know where
Matticks is heading on holiday or when.

"I know where he'll be on Jan. 18," she said, "but in the meantime, I
don't know."

The Crown consented to Matticks's travel plans.

"For several years now he has not had the chance to take a vacation,"
St-Germain explained.

"I don't think the interest of the justice system will be compromised,
since he's been out on bail for two years now."

Normand Beauregard and Donald Driver also pleaded guilty yesterday to
drug importing charges.

Of 14 suspects arrested in the plot, only four await trial. The rest
took a plea bargain, St-Germain said.