Pubdate: Sat, 24 Apr 2004
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2004 Southam Inc.
Contact:  http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: Graeme Hamilton, National Post
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

RCMP TRICKED ME INTO THAI DRUG BUY

'Relentless Pressure': Montrealer Jailed for Eight Years Sues Mounties for 
$47.4m

MONTREAL - In the eyes of one undercover RCMP officer, Alain Olivier was a 
"low-life doper" back in the late 1980s, "not much of a player" in the 
heroin trade. He was a junkie with "a nose problem," a police informant who 
dealt with Mr. Olivier confirmed.

But somehow this addict who was always short of cash became the focus of a 
major international RCMP drug sting that ended up costing the life of one 
Mountie and putting Mr. Olivier in a decrepit Thai prison for eight years.

Yesterday, Mr. Olivier's lawyers went before the Quebec Superior Court to 
significantly amend a lawsuit the Montreal man initially filed in 2000. 
Back in Canada since 1997 and out on parole since 1998, he has increased 
his claim to $47.4-million from $27.5-million, arguing he was the victim of 
entrapment.

"This was a willful and intentional breach of fundamental human rights," 
Reevin Pearl, one of Mr. Olivier's lawyers, said after a news conference 
yesterday.

Known as Operation Deception, the 1989 RCMP sting in Thailand became big 
news back home when Corporal Derek Flanagan, working undercover, toppled 
from a truck and died during the botched bust in the city of Chiang Mai.

Mr. Olivier, now 44, was arrested for his role in arranging the drug 
purchase and initially sentenced by a Thai court to death by firing squad. 
His sentence was reduced to life in prison after he agreed to plead guilty 
and, in 1997, Thai authorities transferred him to Canadian custody.

According to the new declaration filed in court, Mr. Olivier would never 
have gone to Thailand, and Cpl. Flanagan would still be alive, had it not 
been for the "constant and relentless pressure" from an RCMP informant to 
conclude the drug deal.

The court documents also contain acknowledgement from the RCMP that it had 
confused Mr. Olivier, who had no prior criminal record, with his twin 
brother, who had a number of convictions in the early 1980s, including 
armed robbery and drug trafficking.

The lawsuit contends that this mistake, combined with false information 
provided by an informant named Glen Barry (also known as Jean-Marie 
Leblanc), led the Mounties to believe Mr. Olivier was a bigger player than 
he was.

Mr. Olivier began working for Mr. Barry in 1987 at a fishing charter 
operation in Gibsons Landing, B.C. The suit alleges Mr. Barry, who had been 
hired by the RCMP to feed them information for Operation Deception, 
presented himself as a major criminal involved in drug trafficking and gun 
smuggling.

He introduced Mr. Olivier to undercover RCMP officers, saying they were 
major underworld figures interested in bringing in heroin from Thailand. At 
one point, to enforce the point, one of the undercover officers showed up 
to charter a boat with another man. Two days later, the officer returned in 
the boat alone, and when Mr. Olivier looked inside the boat, he saw blood 
and empty bullet shells. The suit alleges that he was told by Mr. Barry 
that the missing man had been shot "because he talked too much."

During a separate criminal trial in 1990, a Vancouver County Court judge 
harshly criticized Mr. Barry's conduct as a police informant. "Their 
evidence establishes beyond any doubt that Barry seriously abused his 
position as a police agent in the small community of Gibsons and virtually 
terrorized that community," the judge wrote.

The suit alleges that Mr. Olivier, "a penniless blue-collar worker," agreed 
to go along with the planned drug buy because he feared he was dealing with 
a group of underworld killers. His plane ticket to Thailand was paid for by 
the RCMP, which also supplied the money to make the heroin purchase.

The RCMP has declined to comment on the case while it is before the courts, 
but a previously filed defence denies that Mr. Olivier was pressured to 
take part in the operation. It says what Mr. Olivier perceived as a murder 
aboard the fishing boat was a misunderstanding; the officer in question had 
taken a relative fishing and let him off before docking, the defence says.

The police force maintains that Mr. Olivier was a drug dealer and the bust 
allowed them and Thai police to identify a source of heroin into Canada.

To Mr. Olivier's complaint that he spent eight years under atrocious 
conditions in a Thai prison, the RCMP responded that "prison conditions are 
more difficult in Thailand than in Canada," but added that Mr. Olivier 
received aid from the Canadian embassy.

Mr. Olivier, who had been working as a stagehand in Montreal until a recent 
accident, said yesterday he believes the RCMP toyed with his life. "As a 
Canadian citizen, I have the right to see justice done," he said. "That is 
why I am fighting, not just for the money."

A trial date has not been scheduled.
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