Pot activist gets whiff of jail
HALIFAX (CP) - A Canadian pot activist American authorities want extradited to face charges in the U.S. will be spending his holiday weekend in a Halifax-area jail before being returned to Vancouver next week.Marc Emery, leader of the B.C. Marijuana Party, was arrested by RCMP on Friday in Nova Scotia after police in Vancouver raided his marijuana seed and paraphernalia store.
Emery spent Friday night in a Halifax holding cell. The justice of the peace will have him remanded to another correctional facility today, while officials in Vancouver make arrangements to transfer him to B.C.
Emery and two others are wanted in the U.S. to face charges of conspiracy to manufacture marijuana, conspiracy to distribute seeds and conspiracy to engage in money laundering.
Emery was scheduled to speak at a music festival that raises funds for Maritimers Unite for Medical Marijuana (SUNDAY SUN, July 31, 2005).
WASHINGTON REQUESTS RAID ON B.C. 'POT PRINCE'
MARC EMERY ARRESTED
BY BRAD BADELT
VANCOUVER * Vancouver police raided a marijuana-seed business run by the leader of B.C's Marijuana Party under a request from the U.S. government yesterday.
Marc Emery, 47, who was referred to as the "Prince of Pot" on the search warrant, was arrested yesterday by RCMP and police in Halifax. He is charged in the U.S. with conspiracy to distribute marijuana, conspiracy to distribute marijuana seeds, and conspiracy to engage in money laundering.
Gregory Keith Williams, 50, and Michelle Rainey-Fenkarek, 34, who are alleged to be Mr. Emery's business partners, were also arrested in Vancouver.
Chris Bennet was working in Mr. Emery's Vancouver store yesterday morning when two undercover Vancouver police officers walked in. "I was on the phone and these guys who looked like hippies walked in and told me to hang the phone up," Mr. Bennett said.
Police took down storefront signs and covered the windows with paper, while pro-marijuana protesters chanted "Go Home USA, Go Home USA."
The search was requested by U.S. government through the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act, Canadian legislation that was enacted in 1985.
U.S. authorities said the search warrant and arrests were the result of an 18-month investigation into Mr. Emery's international seed-selling business.
Christian Girouard, spokesman for the federal Department of Justice, would not comment on the warrants but said requests from the U.S. under the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Act are not uncommon. Mr. Girouard said the Department of Justice reviews each request under the Act before forwarding it to the appropriate parties.
Halifax police spokesman Const. Mark Hobeck said Mr. Emery, who has been selling seeds by telephone, mail or Internet since 1994, was arrested yesterday afternoon just outside Halifax.
CanWest News Service (NATIONAL POST, Saturday, July 30, 2005).
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