BROCKVILLE, Ontario, Feb. 23 — A three-man drug ring that plotted to move thousands of dollars worth of cocaine from Florida to Franklin County and into Canada was smashed Tuesday with the arrests of two Canadians, state police at Ray Brook said.

Brian R. Martinau, 36, and George A. Eliesie, 42, both of Jasper, Ont., were arrested by Ontario Provincial Police on charges of conspiracy to import cocaine and conspiracy to possess cocaine for the purpose of sale. The men were arraigned in Brockville Provincial Court and were released on $30,000 bail each, police said.

Al Bousquet, a senior investigator with the state police Bureau of Criminal Investigation, said the men were implicated after the Dec. 14 arrest in St. Regis Falls of Thomas M. Harrigan. Harrigan was a fugitive who jumped bail 10 years ago after being sentenced to 20 years to life for drug trafficking.

He faces U.S. charges of possessing an illegal firearm and forgery. He is being held in the Franklin County jail, Bousquet said.

According to Bousquet, Harrigan, Martinau and Eliesie planned to buy a large quantity of cocaine in Florida. Harrigan would pick it up and bring it to Canada, where the three would divide the stash, Bousquet said. Harrigan intended to sell his portion in Franklin County, Bousquet said.

But, he said, the deal never materialized, because the trio could not raise enough money to make the buy.

Bousquet would not say how large the cocaine shipment was supposed to be but Franklin County District Attorney Richard H. Edwards said the men were trying to raise $10,000 to buy the drugs.

Harrigan was arrested, and, under interrogation, told U.S. and Canadian authorities of the plot, and fingered Martinau and Eliesie, Edwards said.

“It was gleaned from various conversations with him at various times,” Edwards said.

Harrigan originally attracted attention, Bousquet said, because a state police investigator who lived in St. Regis Falls became suspicious of the fact he lived “with no visible means of support.”

Bousquet said Harrigan and his mother, Yvonne Lowe, lived in the tiny community quietly, but did not work or receive public assistance.

After arresting Harrigan, police discovered he was a fugitive from the drug charge and had been a suspect in the 1968 murder of actress Sharon Tate, Bousquet said.

Tate was killed by followers of Charles Manson, but Bousquet said Harrigan had told a girlfriend at the time he had been with Tate the night of the murder.

“It ended up being false,” Bousquet said. “In reality he was out playing around with another broad.”

“He’s been around,” Bousquet added.

Martinau and Eliesie face 7 years to life in Canadian prison if convicted.

By THOMAS FINE