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November 16, 2016 - 8:00 PM
OKANAGAN - Four men with ties to the Okanagan are being extradited to the U.S. after a last-ditch attempt to have the order overturned was rejected.
Darrel Romano, Ivan Djuracic, Aaron Anderson and Jamie Nenasheff are accused of transporting hundreds of pounds of high-grade marijuana from a workshop in Armstrong to California in hollowed-out logs.
In all, a group of eight men accused of being part of the scheme were ordered extradited to the U.S. After the ruling, some of them appealed to the Minister of Justice to refuse the surrender. When the minister declined, Romano, Djuracic, Anderson and Nenasheff requested a judicial review to have the decisions of the Minister of Justice, and his orders for their surrender to the United States, set aside.
In a judgement handed down today, Nov. 16, the court of appeal said the men had not established a good enough reason for the review.
According to court documents, Romano and Djuracic had Kelowna addresses as of 2007, while Nenasheff and Anderson had addresses in Vernon as of 2006.
The operation was busted in 2006 after police intercepted their communications with a series of 10 wiretaps.
Some of the alleged conspirators were seen by police at a Quonset hut in Armstrong using chainsaws to cut rectangular compartments into logs. The logs were later brought to a property in Salmon Arm before being transported to a log home business that provided a front for the operation in California.
Canadian and American investigators maintained surveillance throughout the trip, and busted the operation at a warehouse in California on Sept. 22, 2006, confiscating 735 lbs. of marijuana (including packaging).
The men will be surrendered to California where they are being prosecuted on charges of conspiracy to distribute and possession with the intent to distribute marijuana.
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