COKE DEALER TELLS OF HER 'COMFY' LIFE

MONTREAL -- A woman involved in some of Canada's biggest drug deals had her
lifestyle picked apart by defence lawyers during a gangsterism trial for
nine bikers yesterday.

The jury heard that Sandra Antelo, 52, started drug trafficking in 1977,
from Bolivia and Colombia to Jamaica, Los Angeles and Miami, en route to
Montreal.

She gave herself up to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Ottawa
in September 2000, subsequently meeting with RCMP officers. Antelo was
given immunity from prosecution in exchange for her co-operation.

She told the DEA and the RCMP that she had worked with the Hells Angels
from 1997 to 2000, importing thousands of kilograms of cocaine from
Colombia, before relations soured and the bikers tried to kill her.

Defence lawyer Guy Quirion suggested yesterday she also had problems with
her Colombian connections, given the enormous losses of money and drugs
between destinations.

After attacking Antelo's skills as a drug trafficker, defence lawyers also
attacked her credibility as a witness and as a mother.

Antelo was arrested once before, when her first husband, whom she was
divorcing, went to the police in California. She was sentenced to 20 months
in jail but escaped to Bolivia.

Using a fake passport, she then came to Canada where she lived and dealt
drugs with her second husband.

"I lived a comfortable life," Antelo said modestly. Near the end of her
career, she enjoyed six-figure commissions.

She lived a double life, defence lawyer Pierre Panaccio said, accusing her
of setting up fronts, like furniture and clothing import businesses, and
lying to her children about where the money came from.

"Everything that paid for your children's nice clothing and education came
from drugs and you never told them?" he asked.

Antelo remained calm.

"The senor wants to call it deceitful," she said. "It's just like the
relationships of criminal lawyers."