The Calgary gangster with a deportation order hanging over his head remains behind bars despite an Immigration decision releasing him on bail, a government spokesman said yesterday. Derrick Pieters, with the federal department of justice, said Tran Trong Nghi Nguyen has not been able to come up with suitable individuals to post two $10,000 bonds. Nguyen was ordered released by an Immigration division member on Oct. 2, a decision initially appealed by the government before it was abandoned last Friday. The reason for the abandonment is not known. But Pieters said a condition of the release order, that Nguyen find someone suitable to post his bail, has not been met. "He has to come up with the $20,000 in bond, providing it is someone who meets the criteria ... of an acceptable bondsperson," Pieters told the Sun. He said the Canada Border Services Agency has guidelines which have to be met for that to happen. "There must be proof that the money was obtained by legitimate means," Pieters said. Nguyen, who is also known as Jackie Tran and Nghia Trong Nguyen-Tran, has been in custody since his arrest Jan. 10 on a CBSA warrant.The warrant was issued after he failed to show up for an appeal earlier that day of his deportation order. Nguyen, 26, was initially ordered returned to Vietnam on April 20, 2004, after he was convicted in March 2003 of assault with a weapon and trafficking a narcotic the previous June. Police and CBSA officials say Nguyen is a known gang member and his presence in the community would put the public at risk. But Immigration official Paul Kyba said the agency knew of Nguyen's criminal organization affiliation before the Jan. 10 hearing, but never tried to have him detained for that until he failed to show up for his appeal. Since then a federal court judge has ordered a new appeal, meaning Nguyen can't be booted from the country until at least that second hearing, currently scheduled for next week.

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