MOUNTIES UNDER FIRE OVER HUGE COKE BUST

Without Witness Protection, the Skipper Refused to Talk

VICTORIA -- Sixteen months after U.S. agents seized more than 21/2
tonnes of cocaine aboard a Canadian fishing boat -- one of the
biggest-ever coke busts on the West Coast -- no one has been charged.

The boat's captain, a 55-year-old fisherman, drug dealer and police
informant from Victoria, is protected from prosecution by the very
system he might have betrayed.

And the RCMP missed an opportunity to break up one of the most massive
cocaine financing and distribution rings in Canada.

Canadian authorities say the case is still open. But officials on both
sides of the border doubt charges ever will be filed.

"This case is a travesty," said Rodney Tureaud, of the U.S. Customs
Service in Seattle. "Some inner-city kid goes to prison for 15 years
over a few grams of crack while these jokers have 5,000 pounds of
cocaine and are sleeping in their own beds."

U.S. officials and attorneys won't publicly comment because the case
belongs to Canada, and officials in Canada are mum.

But court records, information obtained from the U.S. Coast Guard
through Freedom of Information and interviews in both countries
provide the details

On the night of Feb. 21, 2001, the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted the
27-metre Western Wind off Cape Flattery, and found the cocaine in a
secret bow compartment.

The skipper of the Western Wind says he was caught in a squeeze
between the RCMP and the buyers, suspected to be members of the Hells
Angels. The RCMP says the skipper failed to tell them of a key
development, causing them to lose track of the investigation.

Sources say a prison acquaintance had asked the skipper to broker a
cocaine deal between the buyers and a Colombian drug cartel. He told
Mounties about the deal to avoid criminal charges relating to 250
kilograms of marijuana. The skipper was to be an RCMP snitch, in
return for $1 million and witness protection.

The skipper says the Mounties initiated the deal, and later reneged.
"I was squeezed," he said at his impressive cedar-and-river-rock home.
"They set it up."

In November 2000, the Western Wind was purchased for $100,000 -- money
police believed was provided by members of the Hells Angels -- and its
bow fuel tanks were modified for the cocaine.

The skipper was to pilot the boat to Colombia to pick up the drugs,
then return to Victoria to meet the buyers. He would tip authorities
to the time and place.

Investigators were after the financiers, who had put up as much as $40
million to buy drugs worth $250 million on the streets.

But the proposed $1 million payout was nixed by then-Inspector Richard
Barszczewski, in charge of the RCMP's Drug Enforcement Branch in B.C.
Barszczewski, now a superintendent in charge of RCMP support services,
would not comment.

By the time the skipper learned the deal with the police was off, the
drug exchange had been negotiated.

It was "too late to get out," he said. "It wasn't like I could just
walk away."

But police sources say the skipper never told them he was being
pressured to carry out the drug exchange. So a month later, when he
said he was taking his new boat tuna fishing, RCMP had little choice
but to take his word.

The skipper insists that when he left, he really was going fishing.
But as he travelled south he said he received e-mails ordering him to
continue to Colombia to collect the cocaine.

"They said they'd kill my family," he said.

He admits he picked up the drugs, transferred from another ship. "But
I was going to pull into Victoria harbour and call the RCMP. I didn't
want anything to do with this."

Authorities said no threatening e-mails were found on the boat's
computer.

In early February, Mounties were tipped that the Western Wind was on
its way to Victoria with a load of cocaine.

They feared the boat and its cargo would get into the hands of the
buyers before they were ready. Desperate, they asked the U.S. to
intercept the Western Wind to buy them time to regroup.

On Feb. 21, 2001, the U.S. Coast Guard and Mounties boarded the boat
and found the cocaine. The skipper said all he was hauling was fish.

He was given a choice: He could testify against the drug buyers in
exchange for witness protection. Or he'd be arrested.

But when the Mounties called to clear the plan with Barszczewski, the
drug section chief, he again witRating 2 eld his sanction.

And without a guarantee of witness protection, the skipper refused to
co-operate.

The U.S. had the resources to mount a controlled delivery, but
Canadian officials balked, citing a policy prohibiting foreign police
from entering Canada armed.

That was a red light for the Americans.

Unwilling to lose the drugs, the Americans seized the Western Wind and
its coke.

Then Canada threw up another legal obstacle. The RCMP wouldn't explain
their relationship with the skipper, citing Canada's laws on
protection for informants. Canada will not officially identify a snitch.

Without the police file on the skipper, said a source, "we couldn't
move forward. It was extremely frustrating."

So U.S. prosecutors decided to free the crew, destroy the drugs, keep
the boat and let Canada handle the legal mess.

The Mounties made one last bid for the skipper's co-operation to
identify others in the plot. But without witness protection, he
refused to deal, and was let go.

In court papers filed to block the U.S. government's forfeiture claim
on the Western Wind, the skipper asserted that "the vessel is not
subject to forfeiture because claimant was acting at the behest of the
government of Canada in furtherance of legitimate law enforcement goals."

Last month the skipper dropped his fight to reclaim the Western
Wind.

The RCMP's Sgt. Grant Learned said because "the file is still open" he
can't discuss the details.

Curt Albertson, a spokesman for Solicitor-General Rich Coleman, said
Coleman has asked the RCMP for more information.