Pubdate: Mon, 10 Sep 2012 Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON) Copyright: 2012 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: Gary Dimmock Page: A5 COURT REJECTS RCMP CASE IN OTTAWA-IQALUIT DRUG BUST Judge rules against street gossip as reliable intelligence RCMP detectives trying to crack down on the drug pipeline from Ottawa to Iqaluit will need to publicly reveal more reliable information from confidential informants after a judge derailed a trafficking case, branding it as dangerously weak and possibly built on gossip. The decision came even though police seized three kilograms of marijuana in their investigation. "I am of the view that the administration of justice would be brought into disrepute by the admission of the evidence in this matter," Nunavut Justice Sue Cooper ruled. The outlawed drug trade in Nunavut is lucrative. A pound of marijuana that can sell for $2,200 in Ontario can fetch up to $25,000 in the northern territory. The RCMP case against Andrew Alainga was built exclusively on information from a confidential informant. Detectives revealed in court that before they targeted the Nunavut man, they didn't know the date of his flight from Ottawa to Iqaluit, the quantity of marijuana they suspected he would be carrying or the time or the nature of the deal in which it was acquired. And because the Mounties never disclosed how their paid informant came across the information, Judge Cooper wondered if it was firsthand knowledge or an RCMP case built on "simply rumour or street talk." In an Aug. 8 decision, Judge Cooper said the RCMP confidential information lacked credibility and corroboration and she ruled Alainga's arrest and search were unlawful. The judge sided with a defence motion that Alainga's Charter rights had been trampled. Judge Cooper highlighted this testimony from an RCMP detective: "It may not be documented anywhere but if five people tell me the same person is involved in trafficking in marijuana then I would consider that to be street knowledge and five independent sources at five different times giving me that information would lead me to believe that that person in some way would be involved." The judge said such an approach "has the potential to elevate rumour or gossip to the status of reliable police intelligence," adding, "It is one thing to have specific factual information regarding a particular criminal offence relayed to the police from several independent sources; it is quite another if the information received is that of general reputation." On March 5, 2011, an informant called the RCMP and said the accused would be picking up the drugs in Ottawa and that his travel plans were "imminent." The source had provided information three other times in unrelated cases. None of it ever led to a search warrant, let alone a seizure of drugs. In fact, the RCMP did not even record the information in intelligence reports for future reference, according to court documents. The RCMP officer checked with the two airlines that fly between Ottawa and Iqaluit and learned that Alainga, who has no criminal record, had bought a return ticket in Iqaluit on March 4, 2011. The Mounties later learned that Alainga had checked in one piece of luggage, which the officer viewed as "suspicious" because people going south on a shopping trip normally check in more than one bag. When Alainga walked into the Iqaluit airport terminal after arriving from Ottawa, two RCMP officers arrested him for possession of marijuana for the purposes of trafficking. They seized his luggage and found 6.87 pounds of marijuana. An RCMP officer testified that the informant had "intimate knowledge" and the information provided was "rich and full of detail." The judge, however, couldn't take his word for it, and found little strength in the RCMP's case. "While the court must consider whether the information received from an informant is compelling, credible or corroborated, weaknesses in one area may be compensated for by strengths in another. The difficulty in this matter is that there are weaknesses in each of the three criteria the court must consider," Judge Cooper ruled. The judge said that while the information was sufficient enough to warrant an investigation, it fell short of the legal requirement for reasonable and probable grounds for an arrest. In fact, she said the Charter violation in this case was serious because Alainga was arrested in a public place, had his luggage searched and was detained in police cells. "The violation cannot be described as momentary, fleeting, or minimal =C2=85 The impact on liberty interests was significant given that the accused was detained for an undetermined time in RCMP cells," the judge said. On privacy interests, the judge said travellers who turn their luggage over to carriers expect their luggage to be subject to inspection for airline safety, but not for criminal investigation purposes absent of reasonable grounds. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt