WOMAN GETS FOUR YEARS IN HUGE DRUG-SMUGGLING CASE

Susan Wai-Ling Hanano arrived in Winnipeg six years ago on a Greyhound
bus. Now, the British Columbia resident is leaving the city in handcuffs.

Hanano, 30, was sentenced Friday to four years in a federal
penitentiary after being convicted of one of the largest
drug-smuggling cases in Manitoba history. She had been free on bail
since her arrest.

Winnipeg police, acting on a Crime Stoppers tip, seized 10 kilograms
of cocaine from Hanano after greeting her at the downtown bus depot in
November, 2002. The drugs carried an estimated street value of $800,000.

The Crown was seeking up to eight years in prison for Hanano, who
would have been a trusted member of a drug network to be given such a
large quantity of drugs. Hanano fought the case at trial, claiming
police repeatedly violated her rights and that all the evidence they
gathered should be thrown out.

Defence lawyer Sheldon Pinx said police never told Hanano she had the
right to consult a lawyer and, therefore, the permission she gave
police to search her luggage did not amount to informed consent.

Queen's Bench Justice Lori Spivak refused to dismiss the evidence,
despite finding police didn't follow proper procedure.

Hanano had also tried to get her case tossed on the basis police
didn't have reasonable grounds to search her because the police could
have faked a Crime Stoppers tip -- which alerted police a woman was
arriving by bus with cocaine.

Spivak denied that motion.

Someone claiming to be a passenger on Greyhound bus No. 1123 told
Crime Stoppers they overheard a woman on the bus talking on her
cellphone, saying she was bringing drugs into Winnipeg and that she
wanted to be met at the bus depot.