POT OF GOLD IN ARREST

Captured Man Could Shut down Hydroponic Operations: Cop

A dangerous American fugitive captured in his girlfriend's home town of
Innisfail by RCMP will help Mounties shut down hydroponic pot growing
operations across Canada, says a U.S. marshal.

Innisfail RCMP arrested 29-year-old Robert Michael Shimek on an area
acreage early Saturday - a notoriously violent fugitive and target of an
eight-year international manhunt, according to Deputy U.S. Marshal David Drake.

"This could easily lead to the seizure of hydroponic grow operations in
Canada," said Drake, who has personally hunted Shimek for the last four years.

Shimek allegedly used agents to offer Canadian citizens - initially with no
links to criminal elements - $20,000 US and a share of profits to grow pot
in their homes, claims Drake. None of the alleged growers would know who
they were really working for, he said. "He's got houses across Canada."

The arrest, according to Drake, could also cripple the flow of LSD in both
Canada and the U.S. "There's only six chemists in the world who produce
this stuff, because it's such a complicated process."

Shimek is allegedly connected to one of LSD chemists, said Drake, and if he
co-operates with police, a major source of the drug would be cut off.

Facing a mandatory life sentence in Maine for conspiring to create a
"continuing criminal enterprise," Shimek can only make his situation worse
by holding out on police, said Drake. "He has no choice. The only thing he
can bargain on is a better prison."

But Shimek would never be in the hands of police without the work of the
Mounties, and especially without the keen eye of Innisfail RCMP Sgt. Ed
Plitz, said Drake.

"Without him, he never would have been caught. We knew he was going (to
Innisfail), we just didn't know when," said Drake, adding RCMP made the
acreage arrest after Plitz spotted the wanted man in the community.

Drake did not know yesterday if police had found Shimek's Innisfail girlfriend.

U.S. marshals and Mounties believe Shimek's last alleged base of operations
was in Victoria, B.C.

Tactical officers from Red Deer and Calgary helped collar Shimek,
considered armed and extremely dangerous.

Shimek was wanted for smuggling drugs from Canada to the U.S., where he
allegedly sold them at rock concerts, making millions of dollars. Police
also allege he was a drug supplier to the Hells Angels in Canada.

Indicted in Maine on numerous weapons and drug charges, Shimek could also
face homicide charges in connection with two overdose deaths in New Jersey.