SIX MORE SUSPECTED DRUG DEALERS ESCAPE WHEELS OF JUSTICE

Six accused drug dealers were let off the hook yesterday when the Crown
stayed proceedings against them because the Mountie involved in their cases
is charged with the crime himself.

The federal Justice Department is re-examining about 25 cases -- from 1999
to 2001 -- in which Tantallon RCMP Const. Danny Ryan was involved, and
stayed charges against six people in Halifax and Dartmouth yesterday.

Ryan, a six-year officer, was arrested at the Cambridge Suites in Halifax
on Jan. 23 and charged with trafficking marijuana. Mounties seized
marijuana during the arrest, an amount Ryan's lawyer says is less than four
kilograms.

The 31-year-old had been part of Tantallon RCMP's successful "Street Team,"
a plainclothes drug team that worked with information from other
investigations and community sources to crack down on street-level drugs.

The Crown couldn't proceed with many of the charges because Ryan had sworn
the information to get the search warrants, and would have to be a key witness.

"When you learn that ... the officer who is the primary person responsible
for the search ... is implicated himself with criminal conduct of an
associated nature, then it obviously sets off a lot of alarms," said
defence lawyer Warren Zimmer. "If there is a question of the credibility of
that person who swears that document, then clearly the credibility of the
search itself is brought into question."

Federal Crown attorney Tim McLaughlin said his review is "essentially
complete," and has recommended to the attorney general that stays be
entered for about 15 people.

Last week, stays were entered against five individuals. Six more had their
charges stayed yesterday, and McLaughlin expects there will be some others
later this week.

People with their charges stayed in Halifax provincial court yesterday
included Derrick Richard Ryan, 24, 2803 St. Margaret's Bay Rd.; Philip
Murray Munroe 51, 15 Fox Pen Rd., Tantallon; Judith A. Munroe, 53, 15 Fox
Pen Rd., Tantallon; Trina Louise Smith, 19, 1239 Barrington St.; Jerry
Scott Hubley, 26, 12,863 Peggys Cove Rd.