Pubdate: Thu, 19 Oct 2006
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2006 Southam Inc.
Contact:  http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: Adrian Humphreys
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

RCMP DRUG OFFICERS CHARGED OVER INVESTIGATION

Obstruction Of Justice

TORONTO - Two RCMP drug officers, one a veteran crusader against 
narcotics traffickers, have been criminally charged after a justice 
of the peace was allegedly misled during a police undercover 
operation into drugs flowing through Toronto's Pearson airport.

It is an unusual end to a drug probe: Instead of members of an 
organized crime group smuggling large amounts of methamphetamine 
across Canada being charged, two officers investigating the case must 
now face the courts, police say.

The trouble started in February, 2005, after a shipment of suspected 
drugs was tracked by members of the Toronto Airport Drug Enforcement 
Unit (TADEU), an RCMP-led unit comprising officers from several 
Ontario forces. The container, originating in Vancouver, was destined 
for Hamilton, police said.

Sources said the container was being watched by officers as part of a 
controlled delivery, a term used when drugs are allowed to arrive at 
a known location and then secretly watched until traffickers arrive 
to collect it.

Somewhere along the line, however, the container was opened by 
officers without a court-authorized search warrant and a large 
shipment of methamphetamine, a stimulant commonly called speed, was 
discovered, according to police.

"A search warrant was subsequently obtained from a Brampton court, 
but investigators failed to document in their notes or in the 
application to the court for the warrant that the container had 
already been opened and inspected," says a statement, jointly 
released by the RCMP and Durham police.

"As a result of this alleged misconduct, no criminal charges were 
laid against the alleged drug dealers who were being investigated. 
However, the drugs were seized."

Sergeant John MacLeod, 51, a veteran officer who has railed against 
gangsters turning the airport into a revolving door for drugs, and 
Constable Brian Boulton, 29, were charged yesterday by Durham police 
officers with attempting to obstruct justice.

After an initial investigation of the incident by the RCMP, the 
Durham force was asked to investigate in March, 2005, RCMP Sergeant 
Michele Paradis said.

Former officers and colleagues of the two men expressed dismay at the 
news of criminal charges.

"John is one of the most honest guys I know and the hardest worker I 
had on the unit," said Bill Matheson, a former head of the TADEU. 
"I'd put my life in that guy's hands. His integrity and his honesty 
are not in question."

Const. Boulton is also known as an honest officer, he said.
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