PLEA BARGAINING COSTS POT TRAFFICKER HIS 'TOYS'

A Surrey drug trafficker with a penchant for expensive toys -- from
fast boats and cars to vacation property -- has forfeited more than $1
million in assets as part of a deal in return for a three-year term in
federal prison.

The only items Glen Cuthbert Finch, 52, and his wife, Shelley Quesnel,
will be allowed to keep are their family home on 23nd Avenue in
Surrey, her sport utility vehicle and some cameras and artwork they
acquired before Finch began transporting marijuana, according to RCMP.

But gone will be the expensive lakefront house in Osoyoos, a 1999
Porsche 911, a 1992 Softail Harley-Davidson, three speedboats, an
Abbotsford airplane hangar, jewellery, furniture, two all-terrain
vehicles and $50,000 US cash.

Also gone will be the kit airplane police say Finch used to regularly
fly bales of marijuana into the United States as far south as Oregon.

Finch's border-hopping activities came to the attention of police
during investigations into lucrative marijuana transport operations,
according to Constable Bob Seguin of the RCMP's Integrated Proceeds of
Crime unit.

Last August, while working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency,
police began surveillance on Finch, whom Seguin described as a
"freelance" transporter. On the day they arrested him, they caught him
at his Abbotsford hangar loading 15 kilograms of pot into his plane
from the Porsche.

On Friday, seven months after police unveiled the seized items for the
media, Finch and his lawyers concluded a deal in which he agreed to
plead guilty to possession of the proceeds of crime, possession for
the purpose of trafficking in marijuana and breach of bail conditions.

He was sentenced in Surrey provincial court to three years
concurrently on the first two charges, and time served for the breach
of bail.

The size of the forfeiture surprised police, who noted the items
amounted to more than $1 million in illegally obtained items.

"He certainly liked his toys," Seguin said. "All of them will now go
to Crown assets for disposal."

Unlike police forces in the United States, the RCMP won't get a share
of the proceeds. The money all goes into the government's general revenue.

Police don't know how much pot Finch moved, or how long he was in the
business. Although he had no criminal record in Canada prior to his
arrest last fall, he does have a criminal record in the United States
for drug-related charges, Seguin said.

Finch's lawyer, Kevin Filkow of Peck and Company, said his client
cooperated fully with the RCMP on the proceeds of crime charges, and
wasn't accused of peddling hard drugs or using violence or weapons.

Seguin said Finch wouldn't provide any information about his sources
or customers, but police are still investigating links they found
during the seizures.

"His customers were not known to us, and we did not get any
information about his suppliers," Seguin said. "Like any franchise
industry, people are connected, and we're continuing to investigate
other avenues."

Reached at her home Tuesday, Quesnel said she and her common-law
husband just "want to put some closure to this now." She said she was
embarrassed by the previous media interest and didn't want to comment
on the plea bargain.

Finch's problems may not be over. The Canada Customs and Revenue
Agency is investigating how Finch came by the seized items and he
remains exposed to tax liabilities, one of his lawyers said.