Pubdate: Wed, 13 Jan 2010
Source: Nelson Daily News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2010 Nelson Daily News
Contact: http://www.nelsondailynews.com/section/nelson0303&template=letter
Website: http://www.nelsondailynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/288
Page: Front Page
Author: Colin Payne

DRUG SMUGGLING KINGPIN REVEALED AS INFORMANT

Sicamous Man Who Supplied Sam Brown With His Helicopter Wanted Dead 
By Organized Crime Outfits

Yet another chapter in the drug smuggling saga of Sam Brown has 
unfolded on the pages of a major provincial newspaper.

Late last week the Vancouver Province reported that admitted B.C. 
drug kingpin Colin Martin has a contract out on his life after leaked 
documents from an American court revealed he had agreed to be an 
informant on other drug lords in exchange for immunity.

It was from Martin's compound near Sicamous last February that 
Nelsonite Sam Brown allegedly stole the Bell 206 helicopter that he 
flew across the Canada-U.S. border loaded with 200 kilos of pot - 
into the middle of a DEA sting operation.

Brown later hanged himself inside a solitary cell in a Spokane County jail.

His arrest was part of a joint RCMP and DEA investigation called 
Operation Blade Runner that broke up an international smuggling ring 
that brought marijuana across the border in exchange for hard drugs 
like cocaine and ecstasy.

American court documents uncovered by Vancouver Province deputy 
editor Fabian Dawson show that Martin had offered to help the DEA 
bust some major cross-border smuggling operations, and in return he 
would be allowed to continue to run his business unhindered for 
another 10 years.

"I got some information that this indictment had named Colin," Dawson 
told The Nelson Daily News. "This was from a source within the RCMP. 
And I tried looking, but it was difficult to find the document.

"I eventually found the document and decided to make some calls to 
Colin and some of my sources and put the story together."

In the Grand Jury Indictment against the alleged drug smugglers, 
Dawson found statements by Martin claiming he had "the ability to 
control 70 per cent of the work that comes out of B.C. and what comes 
into B.C." and that he "had a long history of credibility" in the 
drug business, which he'd been in "for most of my adult life."

Martin offered to identify other B.C. drug lords and direct law 
enforcement agencies to drug loads as long as they "only arrested 
other people."

Three days before Christmas, the document containing these statements 
became public knowledge after the court documents containing them 
were filed in Seattle, Washington.

Then, three days after Christmas, RCMP officers came knocking on 
Martin's door to tell him there was a contract out for his life.

Quoted in The Province, an RCMP spokesperson told Dawson police felt 
they had a duty to inform Martin his life was in danger and that the 
practice of publicly identifying informants was "absolute insanity."

There are many groups involved in the massive cross-border smuggling 
ring that involves, not only drugs, but weapons like machine guns, 
grenades and even rocket launchers, that would like to see Martin silenced.

This included organized crime groups like the Hell's Angels, the 
United Nations Gang and the Independent Soldiers who have all used 
Martin's helicopter services to move their goods.

Dawson said there are further developments expected in this story, 
most of which will likely revolve around the international 
ramifications of leaking confidential sources and cutting deals with 
witnesses across the border.

"Subsequently there has been a lot of chatter on the (Vancouver 
Province) blogs (http://communities.canada.com/theprovince/blogs) and 
the RCMP have been in touch with their counterparts stateside," 
Dawson said. "They want to find out how the information got out and 
secondly to see if they can get anymore information on this.

"There are several developments linked around this story and it's 
expected that more of this information will come out - some of which 
will be embarrassing to the American authorities," Manning said. 
"Canadian authorities are going to be pretty upset about it."
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart