SEARCH FOR WORK LANDS IMMIGRANT IN JAIL

KEUNG Kwok Leung was told he could come to Manitoba and make more than
$800 a week working on a farm. Little did the Chinese immigrant know
he would be put to work on a $19-million marijuana grow operation, the
largest ever uncovered in the province.

Yesterday, Leung, 31, was sentenced to 18 months in jail. He is the
first of 36 people charged in connection with the massive sting
operation that involved 90 police officers and countless hours of
surveillance.

Leung's lawyer, Krista Peteleski, told the court about Leung's fateful
journey to Manitoba. Born in Hong Kong, Leung, who has the equivalent
of a Grade 8 education, worked as a mechanic.

He came to Vancouver in June 2004, hoping to get a better job and
apply for landed immigrant status. Leung ended up moving to Toronto
and living with a friend, who at the time was the only person he knew
in the country.

Peteleski said Leung found work as a mechanic and a part-time waiter
in the city's Chinatown. After losing his job at the restaurant,
however, he was approached by a person about going to Manitoba to work
on a farm.

Peteleski said her client was told he could make at least $800 a week,
more money than Leung made as mechanic, and that the job of harvesting
the crop would take just 20 days.

Court was told that Leung and six others piled into a van and headed
westward to the tiny community of Sundown, about 125 kilometres
southeast of Winnipeg.

Peteleski said the four sprawling greenhouses were already set up on
the rural farm property when they arrived and that the plants were
more than a metre high. Leung was one of 28 impoverished Chinese
immigrants hired to do grunt work like pruning and watering plants.

"He was the lowest cog in the wheel," said Peteleski.

On his second day there, she said, Leung learned from other workers
that it was marijuana they were cultivating.

"He did not know it was marijuana," said Peteleski. "He had never even
seen marijuana before."

Peteleski said her client had no cellphone and no one to call but
conceded that he never made any effort to leave the farm.

Court was told that workers would tend to the plants from 7 a.m. to 7
p.m.

The 25 men and three women slept side-by-side, head-to-toe on the
floor of a 700-square-foot house. They were told they would be paid
when the job was done.

After 10 days of working, however, Leung and the others were arrested
when police raided the operation last October.

Court was told officers found 10,500 plants and 4,200 pounds of
marijuana that had been cut down.

Peteleski said all of Leung's family is back in Hong Kong but he has
been too ashamed to tell them what happened.

She had her client never would have come to Manitoba if he had know
the job was to work on a marijuana operation.

Leung has effectively served his sentence having been given double
credit for the nine months he has spent in custody. But, because he
was in the country illegally and now has a criminal record, he will be
deported back to Hong Kong.

A Canada-wide warrant is still outstanding for Kyhong Wong, believed
to be the king pin. Because Leung was in the country illegally, he was
the only one charged who was denied bail. None of the other accused
have entered pleas.