british man extradited to the US over marijuana

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/l...l/15030223.htm

this is bad news for our friends in canada

Thu, Jul. 13, 2006
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British man returned to U.S. on 1992 marijuana-smuggling charge
GARRY MITCHELL
Associated Press

MOBILE, Ala. - A British man who lost an eight-year extradition fight pleaded not guilty Thursday in federal court to a 1992 large-scale marijuana-smuggling charge in coastal Alabama.

Giles Carlyle Clarke, 48, depicted in the British press as being from a privileged, upper-crust family, arrived in Mobile from London's Heathrow Airport and spent Wednesday night in Mobile County Metro Jail.

At his initial court appearance Thursday afternoon, Clarke waived a reading of the indictment and pleaded not guilty.

U.S. Magistrate Judge William Cassady ordered Clarke returned to jail pending a detention hearing Monday. A trial is expected in September.

Afterward, a shackled Clarke, wearing a blue jail uniform and escorted by federal marshals, declined to comment to reporters. But Clarke has previously denied being part of the drug-smuggling organization, which prosecutors said was run by a Baldwin County, Ala., couple later convicted.

Clarke's attorney, Jeff Deen of Mobile, said Clarke's British barrister, David Hood, was delayed at the Miami airport and could not attend Thursday's hearing.

Two weeks ago, Clarke, a furniture importer, lost his extradition battle when the European Court of Human Rights rejected his case, according to press reports. It was unclear why the extradition spanned eight years.

In Mobile, Clarke, who told Cassady he left school at 18, was wanted for more than a decade on allegations that he helped smuggle more than five tons of marijuana into the United States through Baldwin County on the Gulf of Mexico coast.

A federal grand jury in Mobile indicted Clarke in 1992 as part of an investigation that led to the prosecution of more than 60 people, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

Clarke, arrested by British authorities in 1997, was charged with conspiracy, importation and distribution of marijuana. If convicted, Clarke could be sentenced to 10 years to life on each charge.

Prosecutors said the conspiracy was responsible for the importation of 11,700 pounds of marijuana between 1983 and 1988 in a double-hulled boat.

Clarke has been described in the British press as an aristocrat, once married to an Italian model, whose family has owned a 1,200-acre estate in Dorset for centuries.