STATE POLICE: FEDS HURT DRUG INVESTIGATION BY DETAINING INFORMANT

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) -- State police have accused federal agents of
thwarting a major drug investigation by detaining their informant on the
day of a planned bust.

According to Sgt. Michael Hambrook, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
agents locked the unidentified informant in a room in Lowell, Mass., and
told him he could earn more money in Massachusetts. The man escaped through
an emergency door four hours later and ran to a nearby parking lot, where
New Hampshire authorities picked him up, Hambrook wrote in a complaint
asking the federal agency to investigate the incident.

Hambrook said the behavior of the federal agents "places this investigation
in jeopardy, is extremely unethical and borders on criminal." He said the
agents refused to let the informant leave even after receiving telephone
calls from authorities in New Hampshire saying he was immediately needed by
them.

Hambrook's supervisor, Lt. Michael Hureau, backed up his account, calling
the federal agents "totally self-serving."

"In my past 29 years in law enforcement, I have never observed such
improper and deceitful behavior by any police officers," he wrote in a memo
asking another state police official to forward Hambrook's complaint to the
DEA.

John Gartland, special agent in charge of DEA's New England field division,
wouldn't discuss incident.

"We get along very well with New Hampshire State Police," he said. "We have
a very close working relationship, in fact we have a task force assigned to
work together on a daily basis . . . It is my understanding that we have a
solid relationship that is going to continue as we do with every other agency."

New Hampshire's chief federal prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Paul Gagnon, said
the incident is being reviewed.

"My understanding of what occurred would not indicate criminal activity on
the part of any federal or state law enforcement personnel, but the Office
of Professional Responsibility will do an independent investigation," he
said. "They will look into all aspects of the matter."

Manchester attorney Jon Meyer said the allegations raise serious concerns
because police agencies often split money and other assets seized from drug
dealers.

"With this type of competition, justice becomes less important than who
gets the prestige and financial benefit of large arrests," he said.