ACCUSED POT SMUGGLER ORDERED EXTRADITED TO THE U.S.

Ruling Appealed After Similar Charges Against Bacon Brother Associate
Dropped in Canada

An accused helicopter pot smuggler has been ordered extradited to the
United States to face drug charges in that country similar to ones
dropped in Canada.

Dustin Haugen, a former associate of Abbotsford's Bacon brothers, was
arrested after a recent ruling by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Selwyn Romilly.

Haugen filed an appeal last week of Romilly's ruling and has
requested a new bail hearing, which has not yet taken place.

Haugen was charged in Chilliwack in 2006, after he and Daryl
Desjardins were allegedly caught moving 135 kilograms of pot into
Washington state in a Jet Ranger helicopter.

Police on both sides of the border were watching and taping the
movement of the helicopter on May 9, 2006. U.S. authorities
intercepted the pot after stopping a truck in Washington they say met
the helicopter. When Haugen and Desjardins returned to their Harrison
Hot Springs base, they were arrested by the RCMP.

Desjardins, now 48, pleaded guilty in an agreement that included
dropping the charges against his younger co-accused, who is now 28.

But after the charges were stayed in Canada, the U.S. Attorney sought
Haugen's extradition in connection with the same May 2006 smuggling operation.

Haugen's lawyers said it was a violation of their client's Charter
rights to have him face charges in the U.S. after they had been
dropped in Canada. But Romilly disagreed.

"There is no suggestion that Crown counsel entered the stay on the
offences in order to allow these extradition proceedings to be
undertaken by the requesting state," Romilly said.

Desjardins received a four-year sentence and is already out on parole.

Romilly noted that even though Desjardins was more involved in the
smuggling plot, "if Haugen is convicted in the requesting state,
there is a strong likelihood that his sentence would be much more
severe than the sentence imposed on Desjardins."

"If Haugen is convicted of the offences by the requesting state, the
parole considerations would not be as flexible as those in Canada," he said.

"If Haugen is convicted of the offences by the requesting state, the
possibility of being allowed to serve any portion of his sentence in
Canada seems remote."

But Romilly said it is ultimately up to the federal justice minister
to decide whether the Charter rights of a requested person have been
violated -- not the extradition judge.

"Following committal, the matter reverts to the minister who reviews
the case in its entirety to determine whether to order the
individual's surrender and, if so, on what basis," Romilly said.

Haugen's lawyers also argued that the U.S. Attorney had not provided
sufficient evidence to link the Abbotsford man into the smuggling plot.

They said the link between the truck in which the marijuana was found
and the helicopter is circumstantial.

Romilly said the defence lawyers were trying to get him to "evaluate
each item of evidence on a piecemeal basis without regard to the
cumulative effect of the whole of the evidence."

"On the whole of the evidence, an inference could easily be made that
the GMC pickup stopped by police was the same vehicle in contact with
the helicopter on the ground," he said.

Haugen crashed another Bell Ranger helicopter back in March 2005 that
he was flying from a landing site leased by Jonathan Bacon. Haugen's
girlfriend, Christina Alexander, was killed.

Desjardins and Haugen were charged as part of a massive cross-border
probe of helicopter smuggling dubbed Operation Frozen Timber.