DRUGS WERE FOR CHARITY... YEAH, THAT'S THE TICKET

JEFF Konrad picked the worst time to wait for a train in Winnipeg.

The Quesnel, B.C., resident was caught carrying 31 pounds of marijuana by
members of the city police and RCMP drug units who just happened to be
conducting a training exercise at the time inside the downtown railway station.

Several drug-sniffing dogs wandered over to Konrad and began showing
interest in three suitcases he was carrying, court was told yesterday.

The dogs signalled to their handlers that something was wrong, prompting a
search that recovered $120,000 worth of high-grade pot stuffed inside the
luggage in January 2003.

"This really was a case of bad luck for my client," defence lawyer Mike
Cook said yesterday.

Konrad, 33, pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana for the purpose of
trafficking and was given a two-year-less-a-day conditional sentence under
a joint recommendation from Crown and defence lawyers. Konrad admits he was
a "drug mule" attempting to move the marijuana to Ontario. He wouldn't say
who the marijuana was going to.

"He just wanted to earn a little extra money by taking the drugs from point
A to point B," Cook told court.

Konrad told a vastly different story at the time of his arrest.

According to police, Konrad claimed the drugs were for "compassionate"
purposes and that he planned to give them away as a donation.

"You know, for people with AIDS and cancer," he told police.

Konrad's story got even more bizarre when he claimed some of the drugs
would also be going to the "humane society," court was told. Konrad has one
prior drug conviction from a decade ago and is now working as a truck
driver in the logging industry, said Cook. He recently became a first-time
father and will be subjected to a strict monitoring system while serving
his penalty in B.C., said Cook.

Unlike Manitoba, justice officials in B.C. use electronic ankle bracelets
to ensure criminals remain inside their homes under court-ordered curfews,
he said.

Any breaches would trigger Konrad's telephone to notify his supervisors
that he has breached, he said.

Konrad will be allowed to leave his home to work and for medical
emergencies. The drugs have been forfeited, meaning he or someone else is
out quite a bit of money, said Cook.