RCMP REFUSED TO EXPLAIN DRUG DEALER'S ROLE, COURT TOLD

Investigative Reporter Says He Was Blocked As He Looked Into Heroin
Sting In Thailand

An investigative journalist says he was stonewalled by the RCMP when
he tried to find out why Alain Olivier ended up in a Thai prison
after being used by the Mounties in a drug sting.

Victor Malarek, who was working for the Globe and Mail when Olivier
landed in jail in the late 1980s, said he first learned of the case
when the RCMP sent out a news release regarding Operation Deception.

Testifying yesterday in Quebec Superior Court, Malarek said he asked
the federal police force for more information on Olivier, who was
named in the release as a major drug importer.

Malarek said he found the RCMP's "no comment" response odd; he
started doing research, discovering Olivier was just a
run-of-the-mill heroin addict.

Malarek flew to Thailand and interviewed Olivier in jail.

"He was trying to recount the story but it was hard to understand
with all the noise," Malarek testified, alluding to the overcrowded prison.

"It was the strangest interview I'd ever done."

In 1996, while working on a book about the case, Malarek managed to
speak to an RCMP corporal, Jim Girdlestone, on the phone.

"He said he had the last unshredded file for Operation Deception but
wouldn't give me the 'sweat off his ass,' " Malarek said. "He said he
hoped Alain Olivier dies in jail and rots in jail."

Olivier, 47, is suing the RCMP for $47.5 million, 20 years after he
was recruited for Operation Deception. He alleges police entrapped
him in a drug deal that landed him in a Bangkok jail, serving a life sentence.

After 81/2 years, he was transferred to a prison in Quebec. He was
later paroled on conditions.

Olivier, originally from Drummondville, had no previous criminal record.

His lawsuit contends the RCMP "relentlessly hounded Olivier through
the use of threats and intimidation" for 20 months. The RCMP's Public
Complaints Commission later supported that finding.

Olivier finally obliged because he feared he'd be killed.

On Feb. 11, 1989, Olivier flew to Bangkok and made contact with a cab
driver who agreed to supply heroin to Olivier's contacts - who were
undercover Mounties.

As the drug deal was being completed, Thai police arrived.

An RCMP corporal died in the melee and Olivier was arrested on drug
charges, which carry the death penalty in Thailand. He escaped death
by agreeing to plead guilty.