Pubdate: Tue, 19 Jan 2010 Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON) Copyright: 2010 The Ottawa Citizen Contact: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326 Author: Andrew Seymour DRUG SUPPLIER'S MURDER TRIAL BEGINS Crown Argues Fadi Saleh Plotted To Kill Ottawa Dealer In 2004 An Ottawa drug supplier angry at being cut out of a lucrative $50,000 to $70,000-a-month cocaine commission plotted to kill a drug dealer later found buried in a shallow grave after being shot at least twice, along with having his skull crushed and his right hand severed, a prosecutor alleged Monday. In his opening address to the jury in the first-degree murder trial of Fadi Saleh, assistant Crown attorney Dallas Mack alleged that Saleh, 32, was one of three men who gathered on a remote road on Aug. 20, 2004, with Hussein El-Hajj Hassan, a 27-year-old cocaine dealer whose body wouldn't be found until more than 10 months later. Mack said the jury will hear Saleh was El-Hajj Hassan's drug supplier up until the day before the killing, when El-Hajj Hassan travelled to Toronto with $170,000 to buy several kilograms of cocaine directly from Rafei Ebrekjdian, a drug dealer who supplied Saleh with the cocaine Saleh had previously sold to El-Hajj Hassan, a married father of three. The jury is expected to hear evidence that Saleh stood to lose between $50,000 and $70,000 a month if the victim, who by this time was moving $200,000 worth of cocaine a week, took his business elsewhere. When Saleh learned that El-Hajj Hassan was attempting to buy his drugs at a better price directly from Ebrekjdian, he was angry, Mack said. One day before the victim was to receive his cocaine from Ebrekjdian, and under the guise that he would be meeting with prominent Hells Angel Paul "Sasquatch" Porter, El-Hajj Hassan was lured to the remote spot where he would be killed. The central issue in the trial, Mack said, was whether Saleh participated in the "planned and deliberate" plot to kill El-Hajj Hassan. Saleh has pleaded not guilty. Mack alleged that Saleh also collected the victim's $170,000 before attempting to cover up the crime. El-Hajj Hassan's wife, Soumia Labrouki, testified Monday that she met Saleh and Ebrekjdian at a Gatineau nightclub after her husband's disappearance in hopes of learning his whereabouts. While both men denied knowing where El-Hajj Hassan was, Saleh was "really angry about him," said Labrouki, who was six or seven months pregnant at the time. "(Saleh) said he didn't think my husband was taking this business seriously, like he was selling tomatoes or potatoes." Saleh threatened her, she said, adding the two men were paranoid she was recording them. Two other men have been tried in connection with El-Hajj Hassan's death. Shant Esrabian was found guilty of first-degree murder while Mark Yegin was acquitted. The trial continues today. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart