I'LL JAIL MAIN, SAYS TOUGH-TALKING MAGISTRATE

The magistrate investigating Australian Simon Main and Briton Alex
Bruell in connection with the world's biggest ecstasy haul has
promised to put the pair behind bars.

"I'll bring Main and Bruell to trial within a year and they'll be
sentenced for about 10 years," Frederico Frezza said of the duo nabbed
in a pizzeria parking lot on April24.

"We've plenty of evidence," said the magistrate, who has a reputation
as a relentless investigator.

He said the two prisoners would not be released before their trial,
which could take place as early as October.

Dr Frezza, who will act as public prosecutor at the trial, said Mr
Main, 30, and Mr Bruell, 26, who both lived in Los Angeles, did not
know each other.

"They were brought together here, an indication that they were part of
a criminal organisation," he said.

Mr Main, former stepson of entertainer Barry Crocker, has led a
privileged life in Sydney's showbiz circles. He frequently dated
Hollywood beauties and was once tipped to marry to Liza Minnelli.

An aspiring actor raised on Sydney's affluent North Shore, Mr Main
moved to Los Angeles in the early 1990s in search of film work. He was
recently romantically linked to US soapie star Nicolette Sheridan.

Police believe the consignment, which allegedly has a street value of
$A11 million, was destined for Los Angeles.

Police have said Mr Bruell admitted to having sent 120,000 ecstasy
pills to the US. Investigators are seeking further information about
these shipments and asking why, if that method worked, he switched to
a courier.

Drugs entering Italy en route to the US also go out to the Italian
market, where it is said that 80per cent of nightclubbers have used
ecstasy.

The Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, whose capital is Trieste, has found
itself battling the influx of drugs, mainly from Holland.

A 25-man squad headed by Captain Nicola Sibilia, a 33-year-old Roman
who, working in conjunction with Dr Frezza, has had a unique series of
successes, probably because those arrested are promised reduced
sentences if they collaborate.

Almost a month before the capture of Mr Bruell, Captain Sibilia's men
began to tap his conversations from his Lignano apartment with a
"Dave" in the US.

The police learned that Mr Bruell had drugs and was waiting for a
courier to collect them.

Finally, on April24 they overheard a conversation with a courier who
told Mr Bruell he was driving on the autostrada and asked where they
should meet. It was, police claim, Simon Main.

Mr Bruell directed him to a car park of a pizzeria. Waiting were seven
unmarked cars with 21 of Sibilia's squad, plus a squad member on a
motorbike.

Captain Sibilia's men moved in and the pair were arrested. Mr Main had
fitted a satellite-link positioning device to his car and had an open
radio transmitter around his neck. Police presumed these two
instruments enabled him to maintain contact with someone in a third
car they have not located.

Neither was armed, and neither resisted arrest. Police said Mr Main
had $US26,000 on him and Mr Bruell had two Nike sports bags crammed
with 330,000 pills, six times more than in any other Italian drug haul
and the biggest consignment ever intercepted on its way to the United
States.

Mr Main refused to collaborate with police, claiming he was a tourist
who just happened to meet Mr Bruell.

Police said they were amazed when Mr Bruell described himself as an
international cocaine courier who was undertaking his first ecstasy
consignment because 14 kilos of cocaine had been stolen from him by an
Italian in London.

Mr Main later made the unpleasant discovery that there is no bail
system in Italy and that his telephone conversations had been tapped.

This is the prosecution's version of events. It claims to have
witnesses whose names it will not divulge for fear of
intimidation.

If on completion of Dr Frezza's investigation the judge for the
preliminary inquiry, Cesare Zucchetto, decides they are to undergo a
public trial, they can ask him to make an immediate judgment, which
enables up to a third reduction of the maximum sentence. If they
decide to undergo the public trial under another judge, they have two
possibilities of appeal.

They are liable to up to 20 years' imprisonment, although Dr Frezza
expects them to get only half this term. The sentence could be
considerably reduced if they collaborate substantially.

Mr Main has been charged under the Italian penal code with offences
relating to trafficking and/or possession of drugs. His lawyer was not
available for comment.