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Seven Canadians and one Nicaraguan have been charged with growing marijuana on a Nicaraguan government-approved hemp farm. Paul Thomas Wylie, 45, of Burlington, has been held in a Nicaraguan jail since Dec. 23 on drug charges. Six other Canadians, including Grant Sanders, 35, of Burlington, are being sought by Nicaraguan police on the same charges. They are believed to be in Canada. The Canadians were involved in Burlington-based Hemp Agro International, which had permission to grow hemp in Nicaragua on a 100-hectare plantation. The fibres from hemp were once widely used in rope-making, but it is also closely related to the plant that produces cannabis, or marijuana. Wylie has been visited in prison by consular officials to make sure he is being treated fairly and his rights observed. ``So far they have been,'' Marion Chamorro of the Canadian consulate in Managua said. Wiley's family in Guelph were not aware that he had been arrested until they were contacted by The Star last night. His sister-in-law, Linda Wylie, said: ``We heard from him two weeks before Christmas. He said he'd call on Christmas but he didn't.'' Denis Thibault, the Canadian ambassador to Nicaragua, will be meeting officials to discuss Wylie's situation today, said Sophie Legendre, foreign affairs department spokesperson. If the six Canadians being sought by Nicaraguan police are in Canada, Nicaragua will have to apply under the extradition treaty to have them moved to Nicaragua to face charges, Legendre said. She wouldn't comment on whether such a request had been made. The plantation, located just east of Managua, was burned last month by police on orders from the health ministry. ``We received all the permits and authorization from the government (of Nicaragua) to grow industrial hemp. We spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in research, development, and planting,'' Sanders said yesterday. ``Now, they've changed the rules.'' The method and timing of cultivation was consistent with growing hemp for commercial purposes and not the illicit drug trade, said Don Wirtshafter, a U.S. lawyer who said he testified as an expert witness for Wylie when he appeared in a Managua court on Jan. 1. The hearing was held to determine whether there was enough evidence to charge Wylie and the others with cultivating marijuana, an offence that carries a sentence of up to 20 years. With files from Associated Press Copyright 1999, The Toronto Star In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 and The Berne Convention on Literary and Artistic Works, Article 10, news clippings are made available without profit for research and educational purposes. |
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