MONTREAL OFFICER TRICKED INTO DRUG RING, LAWYER SAYS

Agent Demanded Test Of Loyalty, Court Told

MONTREAL - Former Montreal police officer Pierre Goulet was tricked
into thinking a Colombian drug cartel suspected him of disloyalty,
his defence lawyer said yesterday.

Because of this, Gerald Souliere argued in Quebec Court, Goulet
feared for his life when he took part in new crimes during an RCMP
sting operation.

Goulet pleaded guilty in June to two counts of transporting the
proceeds of crime and four counts of possession of proceeds of crime.

The charges are related to more than $1-million Goulet brought across
the U.S. border for his childhood friend Bernard Mondou, who was
using the money to buy hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from
Colombian drug lord Elias Cobos-Munoz.

Goulet transported the money over a series of trips made between Feb.
1, 2000 and Jan. 31, 2002, flashing his police badge when he arrived
at Customs.

In 2004, Cobos-Munoz was arrested in Florida along with several other
people in Operation Manatee, a major U.S. cocaine smuggling
investigation. Mondou and a small group of Quebecers were also arrested.

Goulet went completely unnoticed during Operation Manatee. But in
2004, a wealthy Quebec-based drug trafficker named Daniel Muir,
Mondou's partner, was murdered in downtown Montreal.

While the Montreal police investigated the homicide an investigator
recognized Goulet as being part of Muir and Mondou's entourage.

The investigation was turned over to the RCMP.

They used a double agent who called himself Ricardo and pretended
people tied to the Colombian cartel were wondering why Goulet hadn't
been caught in Operation Manatee.

The double agent told Goulet to prove his loyalty by committing
crimes, including laundering $20,000 in drug money.

Goulet did what the double agent asked him to in order to survive,
Mr. Souliere told Judge Myrian Chevalier.

"If I want to get out some day, is that okay?" Goulet asked the
double agent at one point of the investigation.

"What is important to me is that I survive."

Mr. Souliere recommended Goulet be sentenced to between 16 and 18
months in prison and suggested the possibility of a suspended sentence.

The Crown is seeking a three-year term.

Mondou, 42, was originally sentenced to 135 months for his role in
Operation Manatee after pleading guilty in a Florida court.

He and Muir were at one point preparing to smuggle in 800 kilograms
of cocaine into Canada for 14 people who had invested $35-million.

Mondou was expected to testify against Goulet if his friend's case
went to trial.

Shortly after Goulet pleaded guilty, Mondou saw his sentence reduced
to 90 months, which he is serving in a penitentiary in Kentucky.
Chevalier is expected to pass sentence on Oct. 2.