Canadians Dispute `Pot Farm' Bust

Nicaraguan officials are calling it the largest marijuana operation in Central American history.

The seven Canadians facing the drug charges say it's nothing more than a huge mistake.

Paul Wylie, 45, of Burlington, has been in a Nicaraguan jail for the last two weeks. Grant Sanders, 35, of Burlington and five others in Vancouver are waiting anxiously to find out if they will be extradited to face charges of marijuana cultivation.

``They say we've grown 400 million pounds of marijuana - that's fantasy island,'' said Sanders, who said the 100-hectare government-sanctioned farm was dedicated to growing hemp for its oil and fibres.

Hemp Agro, a Burlington-based business, was starting to harvest its crop just before Christmas when the government arrested Wylie, the only one in the country at the time, and burned the crop.

After being chased off the road by two motorcycles and a black car that fired at the taxi he was in, he was taken to jail, Wylie told U.S. attorney Don Wirtshafter.

He is being held without bail and isn't allowed visitors except for his Nicaraguan wife who is allowed to bring him food, Wirtshafter said.

``He's languishing in jail. I'm really concerned about his state of mind.''

Nicaragua is now in the process of applying for the extradition of the six other Canadians and a Nicaraguan American, Oscar Danilo Blandon, who were also involved in the project, said Carlos Bendaa, spokesperson for the Nicaraguan national police.

Bendaa said the Canadians ``tricked'' the agriculture ministry into allowing them to import the hemp seeds.

The Canadians maintain that the project had full support and that scores of top-level Nicaraguan police and government officials toured the site.

``It's not as if we were hiding anything,'' said Sanders, president of Hemp Agro.

The investors were hoping for $6 million from the sale of hemp oil in return for their $1.5 million investment.

Both marijuana and hemp come from the same species of plant, Cannabis sativa. The marijuana strain of the plant, which produces high THC levels, the active chemical ingredient, has been created by selective breeding.

Hemp Agro paid $22,000 for 15 tonnes of hemp seeds from China. The same amount of marijuana-quality seeds would have cost $6.7 billion, said Wirtshafter, who gave expert testimony at Wylie's hearing.

``This is like a nightmare. I haven't told my family yet,'' said Desmond Cobble, also facing charges.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) may have encouraged Nicaraguan officials to take action, Wirtshafter said.

``The DEA does not recognize a difference between hemp and marijuana,'' he said.

At Wiley's hearing, held Dec. 26 to Jan. 2 the judge was told the plant tested contained 1.6 per cent THC. Levels of THC in marijuana are generally between 6 per cent and 22 per cent, Wirtshafter said.

A THC level of 1.6 per cent would be useless as a narcotic, Wirtshafter said.

He believes part of the reason the Canadians are facing drug charges is because Blandon financed Contra armies in the '80s by importing cocaine into the U.S.

Copyright 1999, The Toronto Star

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