'MOUNTAIN MAN' PLEADS IN DRUG TRIAL

11-Year Term For Key Role In Network Of Hashish Smugglers; Pitt Also Guilty

Two key figures in one of the biggest hashish networks ever to operate in
Canada pleaded guilty in Quebec Court yesterday to charges of drug
smuggling and money-laundering.

Abdul Majid Sulaymankhil, 49, an Afghan-born Canadian known as the Mountain
Man, pleaded guilty immediately after Ernest Pitt, a 43-year-old man from
the Eastern Townships, did so before Judge Jean Sirois.

Sulaymankhil was known to traffickers as the Mountain Man because he once
stood 6-foot-3 and weighed 220 pounds. But he lost weight while awaiting
extradition in a Dubai jail.

Pitt and Sulaymankhil were arrested on May 15 during an extensive operation
in which 21 people were picked up in six countries. Pitt was arrested in
France and Sulaymankhil in Dubai, where he was held until last month when
he was extradited to Canada.

The drug-importation network they helped run had tentacles all over the
world in countries like India, South Africa, Portugal and Thailand.

Sulaymankhil was immediately sentenced yesterday to a prison term of 11
years and three months. It was the longest sentence handed out so far in a
case in which 11 people have pleaded guilty. They have received sentences
ranging from two to eight years.

"Considering the fact almost everybody pleaded guilty in this case, I
believe that made him change his mind, to finish it," said Sulaymankhil's
defence lawyer, Waice Ferdoussi.

"We are talking about charges of $16 million (worth of) money-laundering.
The highest sentence he faced for drug importation was 14 years."

'Fit The Crime'

Prosecutor Michel Vien described Sulaymankhil's sentence as appropriate
because it is rare for Canadian authorities to bring someone supplying
illicit drugs from a foreign country back to Canada.

"It was a very particular situation. The evidence was very good and the
sentence fit the crime," Vien told reporters outside the courtroom.

Despite news reports suggesting Sulaymankhil's drug network was linked to
the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan or Al-Qa'ida terrorists, he said,
the prosecution found no evidence of any such links.

Ferdoussi said he intends to launch a defamation lawsuit against The
Gazette, which reported last month that Sulaymankhil was alleged to be part
of a drug ring that involved the Taliban and Al-Qa'ida.

Speaking through an interpreter, Sulaymankhil accused the Canadian
consulate in Dubai of abandoning him when he was arrested. Sulaymankhil
said he wanted to return to Canada to face the charges but no one would
deliver letters to his lawyer.

"He contacted the Canadian consulate to get some help," Ferdoussi said. "He
never contested his extradition. From Day Zero I asked him to send a letter
to consent to come here."

Pitt is awaiting sentencing. His companion, Suzanne Renaud, is also
awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to charges related to
money-laundering.

Seized Luxury Items

Defence lawyer Gilbert Frigon said the only thing left to negotiate is how
many of the items seized on May 15 will be returned to the couple.

During the operation last spring, the RCMP seized several luxury items,
including a sports utility vehicle and a BMW from members of Pitt's family.

"We have a 95-per-cent agreement on what will be confiscated," Frigon said.

Despite living in a small town near Sherbrooke in the Eastern Townships,
the RCMP learned, Pitt was a world traveler who attended meeting with drug
smugglers in exotic places. Pitt met with Sulaymankhil in Dubai at one point.

Vien described Pitt as a broker who arranged deals between local drug
traffickers and foreign suppliers.

"The ring was well established and well connected," said RCMP Sgt. Mike
Roussy. "Mr. Sulaymankhil was a supplier from the source country."

Vien said the RCMP discovered 5,000 to 10,000 kilograms of hashish under
Sulaymankhil's control in Bangladesh and 1,000 kilos more in South Africa.

But a shipment of more than three tons of hashish that made its way into
Canada was of such poor quality the network began to run into financing
problems, Vien said.

Pitt and Renaud are scheduled to appear in court again on May 13.