Pubdate: Sat, 10 Nov 2007 Source: Montreal Gazette (CN QU) Copyright: 2007 The Gazette, a division of Southam Inc. Contact: http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/274 Author: Sue Montgomery, The Gazette Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?236 (Corruption - Outside U.S.) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) ADDICT WRONG FOR STING JOB: LAWYER Former Con Suing RCMP for $47.5 Million, 20 Years After Being Involved in Police Operation Recruiting a small-time drug addict for an undercover sting operation in Thailand was like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, a lawyer for Alain Olivier said during closing arguments yesterday. On the first day of what he says will be three days of pleading, Francois Audet claimed the RCMP and an informer built Olivier up to be a bigger player than he was. "(Barry) Bennett was an exceptional liar in front of you," Audet said of the retired RCMP corporal involved in Operation Deception. "He's a professional witness." Olivier, 47, is suing the RCMP for $47.5 million, 20 years after he was recruited for the sting operation to import heroin into Canada from Thailand. He alleges police entrapped him in a drug deal that landed him in a Bangkok jail, serving a life sentence. After 8 1/2 years, he was transferred to a prison in Quebec and was later paroled on strict conditions. He will be completely free in 2029. The lawsuit contends the RCMP "relentlessly hounded Olivier through the use of threats and intimidation" for a period of 20 months. Olivier, originally from Drummondville and with no previous criminal record, finally obliged because he feared he'd be killed. In 1987, Olivier had been identified to the RCMP as a possible drug importer by informant Glen Barry, who had a charter boat company in Gibson's Landing, B.C. Olivier was working at Barry's firm. According to Audet, Barry and the RCMP set up a murder scene to make Olivier believe that if he didn't co-operate with them, he'd be killed as well. So on Feb. 11, 1989, after making many excuses why he couldn't make the trip, Olivier flew to Bangkok and made contact with a local taxi driver. The cabbie agreed to supply heroin to Olivier's contacts, who were undercover RCMP police officers. As the deal was being made between the undercover agents and the supplier, Thai police arrived and Olivier was arrested. Audet is to continue his arguments on Monday. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake