RED-FLAGGED FROM THE START

Wife Of Digby Sailor Nabbed On Drug Ship Says Three-Day, Pre-Trip
Holiday Suspicious

DIGBY - The wife of a Digby sailor jailed in Spain in connection with
a large drug seizure said a red flag went up when she learned her
husband and the rest of the crew received a three-day vacation after
the cargo ship arrived in Trinidad last month.

Philip Halliday is a former scallop fisherman who worked aboard the
Destiny Express, a 45-metre freighter that was allegedly carrying 1.5
tonnes of cocaine when Spanish police boarded it Dec. 22 about 300
kilometres off their coast, said a news release from police in London,
England.

Police said the drugs were worth C$626 million and were bound for
London.

The ship is a former coast guard vessel. It left the West Indies with
drugs allegedly stashed in the hold, said the news release.

"He had only been in Trinidad a few days and they were sent on a
vacation," Sheree Halliday said about her husband, who had been
working as a crewman on the freighter.

"He was told that the boss, whoever that is, said that they deserved a
vacation before they started the trip to Spain."

Ms. Halliday said she spoke with her husband every evening via
satellite phone and remembered him telling her about the unexpected
vacation away from the ship that the seven-man crew was given.

"After I hung up the phone, I was thinking, wow, that's odd. And just
for a fleeting moment, a red flag went up, and then I thought, oh well."

The captain on that trip was different from the man who was usually in
charge, Ms. Halliday said Thursday from her Digby home.

She was working when Spanish police called the couple's home and spoke
with their son.

"He said, 'It's drugs. I'm very sorry,' and he hung up," Ms. Halliday
said, referring to what the Spanish police officer was saying.

Very little information has surfaced since.

"I haven't been able to find out anything in the (international)
papers about who was arrested in England or anything like that," said
Ms. Halliday.

She said she is not even sure if her husband knows what he is accused
of.

"I know absolutely nothing. That's what makes it so hard," Ms.
Halliday said about her husband, whom she said is innocent.

Mr. Halliday turned 53 on Dec. 3.

"He had his birthday at sea," his wife said.

Mr. Halliday was also admitted to a Spanish hospital, apparently with
a kidney problem.

"That's what (embassy staff) said, but I read a Spanish newspaper that
said gall bladder," Ms. Halliday said. "The next time I spoke to the
embassy, they said maybe it was (his) gall bladder.

"They don't know and I don't know.

"The nurse at the hospital and the police officers refused to comment
on his status to the (Canadian) embassy."

A spokesman for the Foreign Affairs department said Thursday that
officials had not be able to visit Mr. Halliday.

People who know the Hallidays are concerned.

"I had 53 calls in one day," Ms. Halliday said.

"It is phenomenal, the support from this town."

A new Facebook group has 655 members supporting Mr. Halliday.