RCMP DRUG OFFICERS CHARGED OVER INVESTIGATION

Obstruction Of Justice

TORONTO - Two RCMP drug officers, one a veteran crusader against
narcotics traffickers, have been criminally charged after a justice
of the peace was allegedly misled during a police undercover
operation into drugs flowing through Toronto's Pearson airport.

It is an unusual end to a drug probe: Instead of members of an
organized crime group smuggling large amounts of methamphetamine
across Canada being charged, two officers investigating the case must
now face the courts, police say.

The trouble started in February, 2005, after a shipment of suspected
drugs was tracked by members of the Toronto Airport Drug Enforcement
Unit (TADEU), an RCMP-led unit comprising officers from several
Ontario forces. The container, originating in Vancouver, was destined
for Hamilton, police said.

Sources said the container was being watched by officers as part of a
controlled delivery, a term used when drugs are allowed to arrive at
a known location and then secretly watched until traffickers arrive
to collect it.

Somewhere along the line, however, the container was opened by
officers without a court-authorized search warrant and a large
shipment of methamphetamine, a stimulant commonly called speed, was
discovered, according to police.

"A search warrant was subsequently obtained from a Brampton court,
but investigators failed to document in their notes or in the
application to the court for the warrant that the container had
already been opened and inspected," says a statement, jointly
released by the RCMP and Durham police.

"As a result of this alleged misconduct, no criminal charges were
laid against the alleged drug dealers who were being investigated.
However, the drugs were seized."

Sergeant John MacLeod, 51, a veteran officer who has railed against
gangsters turning the airport into a revolving door for drugs, and
Constable Brian Boulton, 29, were charged yesterday by Durham police
officers with attempting to obstruct justice.

After an initial investigation of the incident by the RCMP, the
Durham force was asked to investigate in March, 2005, RCMP Sergeant
Michele Paradis said.

Former officers and colleagues of the two men expressed dismay at the
news of criminal charges.

"John is one of the most honest guys I know and the hardest worker I
had on the unit," said Bill Matheson, a former head of the TADEU.
"I'd put my life in that guy's hands. His integrity and his honesty
are not in question."

Const. Boulton is also known as an honest officer, he said.