BRITON JAILED 10 YEARS FOR HASH SMUGGLING

A British man was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison for trying to
smuggle about $38 million worth of hashish into Canada.

Neil Alexander Franks, 45, of Devon, England, was one of six British men
arrested in August for smuggling over 2,500 kilograms of hashish seized by
RCMP near Tangier on Nova Scotia's Eastern Shore.

Michael Bernard Johnstone, 60, and Stephen Michael Ambrose, 52, both of
London; Sven Francis Elgie, 39, no fixed address; Aaron Ross Wilding, 36,
of Kent; and Clive Byron Rowe, 64, of Loddiwell pleaded guilty to
conspiring to import hashish and were sentenced in October to prison terms
ranging from six to eight years.

Dartmouth Provincial Court Judge Bill MacDonald also imposed a $100 victim
fine surcharge on Mr. Franks who earlier pleaded guilty to charges of
conspiring to import hashish.

Mr. Franks and three of his cohorts sailed the 12-metre Rayon Vert from
Spain where the drugs were loaded from two other ships off the Spanish
coast. The other two flew to Canada.

The Rayon Vert, which was registered to Mr. Ambrose, was two weeks late
arriving because of bad weather and its crew were still wearing survival
suits when arrested.

Two Sheet Harbour RCMP officers discovered the drugs while on late-night
patrol Aug. 4. The officers found 60 bales of drugs along the shoreline,
and Mr. Franks and Mr. Wilding in a Zodiac headed to shore with 61 more
bales on board. Mr. Ambrose and Mr. Rowe were arrested on the sailboat.

A police dog found and attacked Mr. Elgie who was hiding in nearby woods.
Mr. Johnstone was arrested the following day.

The sailboat, its navigational equipment and cash worth about $12,000 was
ordered forfeited to the Crown.