COURT BACKS RCMP IN HELLS ANGELS CASE

INVESTIGATION. Supreme Judge Rules Illegal Conduct Of Million-Dollar
Agent Did Not Violate Rights Of The Accused, So Trial Will Proceed

The RCMP won a significant victory in B.C. Supreme Court Friday when
Justice Victor Curtis ruled that the illegal conduct of a
million-dollar police agent who infiltrated the Hells Angels did not
violate the rights of the accused.

Curtis rejected the abuse of process application filed by two Hells
Angels associates, who argued that trafficking charges against them
should be thrown out because of crimes committed during the
investigation by police agent Michael Plante.

But Curtis ruled that what Plante is accused of having done --
assaulting someone and selling methamphetamines -- "would not
constitute an abuse of process."

"I have found that, in the circumstances, the investigation did not
contravene society's notion of fundamental justice," Curtis said. "In
this case, the applicants have not proven that their rights to a fair
trial or procedural protection related to that have been infringed in
any way."

His ruling means the trial of Ronaldo Lising and Nima Ghavami will go
ahead later this month as scheduled.

Police had argued that for Plante to successfully infiltrate, he had
to behave as others in the target group. And they said his conduct,
even when it was illegal, was exempted under special Criminal Code
provisions.

The investigation -- dubbed E-Pandora -- culminated in July 2005 with
raids on Hells Angels clubhouses in east Vancouver and Kelowna and the
arrest of 18 men, including Lising, a full-patch member and Ghavami,
an associate.

Because trials are pending for several other accused, Curtis banned
publication of his detailed reasons in the abuse of process
application.

E-Pandora has cost the RCMP more than $10-million so far, Insp. Gary
Shinkaruk, who heads the RCMP's outlaw motorcycle gang unit, said Friday.

"It has been running for several years. It is a major undertaking,"
Shinkaruk said. "It is a favourable ruling. I am very pleased with the
ruling. I look forward to moving on to the prosecution phase now and
bringing the evidence yet again before the courts so the judge can
make the decision on E-Pandora."

Federal prosecutor Martha Devlin admitted during final arguments in
the case that, if the application was successful, there would have
been no choice but to stay the charges in all the cases.

"If Mr. Justice Curtis had found the operation had been an abuse of
process, our view was we weren't able to proceed with the prosecution
of offences arising out of that investigation."

Ghavami lawyer Don Morrison had railed at the conduct of the police
agent during months of testimony last fall.

Outside court Friday, he handed reporters a letter he has written to
Attorney-General Wally Oppal and Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts, blaming
police for the fact that crystal meth was sold in Surrey during the
period of infiltration of the Hells Angels by Plante and asking for a
special prosecutor to be appointed.

"I think the police conduct in this case was absolutely outrageous,"
Morrison said, with Ghavami standing beside him. "It is not the kind
of national police force that I want in Canada, when they allow 60
pounds of methamephetamine to go into the Surrey community with no
warnings whatsoever to the citizens .

. . . How can you have a police force that kills our
citizens?"

Ghavami, who is charged with trafficking in methamphetamines, repeated
"no comment" twice when a Sun reporter asked him if, like his lawyer,
he was against crystal meth trafficking.

Asked a third time, he said: "I guess so, yes."

Morrison said he could not comment on Friday's ruling because he had
not yet read the full reasons.

But he said he was pleased that Curtis specifically said the accused
could still bring forward an "entrapment defence" during the trial,
which if successful, would still result in a stay of proceedings.