Humanitarian Admits He Ferried Drugs to U.S.

Covington, LA.

A retired teacher and noted humanitarian was widely defended in his
hometown of Kingston, Ont., when he and three other men were arrested
two years ago in Louisiana with more than $1 million US of cocaine.

Despite Ed Shaw's guilty plea and seven-year sentence, friends and
acquaintances said that Shaw, 76, must have been in the wrong place at
the wrong time.

They raised $20,000 for legal bills and established a web site called
Free Ed Shaw.

But for several hours last week, Shaw testified at a co-defendant's
trial that, yes, he was indeed a drug mule.

He said he carried money and stuffed cocaine down his socks during
jaunts across the U.S. border from Mexico in 2001 for drug dealers in
Belize.

"I wanted to get a feel for it," Shaw said.

His co-defendant, Ronald Lines, an architect from Alberta, was
convicted on Saturday of conspiring to possess cocaine. He faces 15
years to 30 years when he is sentenced Oct. 31.

As a result of his testimony, State District Judge Rusty Knight is
scheduled to consider reducing Shaw's sentence on Sept. 23.

Jim Metcalfe, who organized fundraising for Shaw, shrugged off the
development, saying Shaw's humanitarian work outweighed the crime.

"Ed Shaw has more positives in his life than negatives. He was always
helping people ... We are all of the feeling that when the roll is
called up yonder, he will have a lot of credit on his books," Metcalfe
said.

District Attorney Walter Reed said the Canadian government had
followed the case closely.

"In fact, Canadian television described Shaw as a well-known
humanitarian and gave the impression that because of his age and
background in Canada that some kind of injustice was occurring in St.
Tammany Parish," Reed said in a prepared statement Wednesday.

Reed said a member of the Canadian Consulate General's office attended
Lines' trial and "left with the impression that justice was served."

At Lines' trial, Shaw spoke of the assistance he has provided in money
and in time to poor communities in Belize, where he lived before his
arrest in October 2001.

The web site notes that Shaw was honoured by Kingston city council in
1997 for his humanitarian work, and that he was also made an honorary
citizen of Belize.

"To pass the time while awaiting trial he has been teaching other
prisoners to read and write," the web site says.

Shaw testified in court that he carried drugs across the border for
some of his associates because he was intellectually curious about the
workings of the drug trade, particularly the ill effects it has on
poor Central and South American countries.