KEY OFFICER WAS FOUND WITH DRUGS, SOURCES SAY

Discovery of evidence linked to staying of charges

Charges laid by members of a Toronto police drug squad are being stayed in
large part because a key officer was discovered driving home with a large
amount of seized drugs, sources say.

No criminal charges have been laid, but the incident has brought the
handling of seized narcotics by the entire Central Field Command drug squad
into question.

Seized drugs are supposed to be stored in police facilities.

Chief David Boothby confirmed yesterday that some unnamed members of the
squad have been under investigation by Internal Affairs since April.

But the incident involving the exhibits officer was not mentioned yesterday.
It happened about a month ago, sources said, and is being handled by
divisional detectives.

The unidentified officer, who is in charge of exhibits, is attached to the
force's Central Field Command drug squad.

According to the sources, the officer was in an unmarked police van driving
home along Highway 404 when he was pulled over by the Ontario Provincial
Police. The OPP suspected the driver was impaired. The Toronto officer
identified himself as a police officer.

Inside the van was a large quantity of drugs. It's not clear what kind of
drugs they were. The exhibits officer indicated it was evidence, the sources
said.

Late last month, after senior officers met with federal drug prosecutors,
crown attorneys were directed to stay charges in a number of major drug
cases involving certain drug squad officers.

No reasons were given, leaving defence lawyers involved in those cases
baffled.

A stay means the crown may try a case at a later date, but it must do so
within a year.

It also means an accused walks free and any money seized as proceeds must be
returned.

It's likely more charges will be stayed, as Toronto police continue with two
internal investigations into the squad and the province's civilian police
watchdog agency reviews an unrelated civilian complaint about six members of
the same drug team.

The drug squad's woes possibly cast into doubt hundreds more criminal
cases - many involving major drug busts, say police and legal sources.

In the case of the Internal Affairs probe that began in April, officers
being investigated have been reassigned to other units, Boothby said in a
news release yesterday.

"The allegations involve some members of Central Field drug squad and those
officers have since been reassigned to other duties," he said in the
statement.

That probe was launched after a number of criminal lawyers raised
allegations of clients' money and jewelry going missing in raids and that
illegal searches had been done.

No officers have been suspended and no charges have been laid.

But it is the exhibit officer's handling of the seized drugs and - to a
lesser extent - the possibility of charges against drug squad officers that
have recently tainted a number of major drug cases and placed potentially
hundreds of others in jeopardy.

Federal drug prosecutors have been directed to ask for adjournments or stays
in cases involving certain officers. On Monday alone, three cases -
involving large amounts of cocaine and heroin - abruptly ended in stays.

It is not clear which officers attached to the drug squad are under the
scrutiny of Internal Affairs. Six are named in the civilian complaint now
being reviewed by the Ontario Civilian Commission on Police Services.

Four officers are considered subjects in the Internal Affairs investigation,
which has been ongoing since April.

It's also not clear if the same drug squad officers under criminal
investigation are part of the group named in the complaint now under review.

In that case, a Toronto police complaint investigator found that two men
suspected by the squad of dealing drugs had been unjustly detained,
strip-searched and had their homes searched in October, 1997, without police
having obtained a warrant.

"There's certainly a lot going on here, given the number of charges being
(stayed)," said Paul Copeland, a Toronto lawyer who is defending a client in
a case now before the courts involving some members of the squad.

The client, Abdulkadir Mohamoud, has also launched a formal complaint
against police.

Mohamoud was arrested in April in a police raid on a house where
investigators believed that khat - a leafy drug used by Somalis - was being
used and dealt.

Among other things, Mohamoud alleges officers conducting the raid broke his
right elbow, badly injured his left arm and knocked him unconscious. The
allegations have not been proven and the investigation continues. Mohamoud
faces charges of possession of khat and assault.

Any case involving the subject officers could now be in limbo - a spin-off
effect that could affect hundreds of drug-related and other criminal cases,
say police and legal sources.

Even in cases where the officers played a minor role, crown attorneys may be
forced to stay charges pending the outcome of the internal investigations.
To further cloud matters, the officers have been reassigned but continue to
make arrests. That means more cases will be coming before the courts.

Allegations and rumours about the nature of the internal investigation have
been growing in recent weeks.

Much of the speculation is coming from defence lawyers who have watched
crown attorneys stay charges against their clients without giving a detailed
explanation.

The only reasons being given make vague references to a possible disclosure
issue.

In one case, a federal crown stayed serious heroin-related charges against
seven co-accused at old city hall court on Nov. 30. Two of the accused were
considered by the court as extreme flight risks and had been held in custody
since February. All seven walked free.

With Boothby's confirmation of an internal investigation yesterday, it is
now clear that the cases being stayed involve officers who are being probed.

According to sources, some members of the now-disbanded drug squad have been
targets of a New York-based drug posse who took out contracts on their
lives.

The information that the drug gang wanted to rub out several officers came
by way of a tip to Edmonton police, who were told of the planned contract
killings by a drug informant.

The contract was still in circulation as of this past summer, sources said,
leaving the officers fearing for their lives and those of their families.

According to sources, the Internal Affairs investigation has involved search
warrants on officers' homes and bank accounts.

Drug dealers, housed in a Kingston jail, were also interviewed by Internal
Affairs.

Sources said Internal Affairs - despite going to extreme lengths to verify
the lawyers' claims - has not found the officers living the high life.

What's unclear is what is going to happen now that so many large drug cases
linked to the disbanded drug quad have been stayed.

Police brass aren't saying much, but police union leader Craig Bromell said
he smells a rat and is looking at filing a formal complaint against some
lawyers once the findings of the Internal Affairs investigation are known.

"If it all comes out in the clear, we will be taking several lawyers to the
law society," said Bromell, referring to the body that oversees lawyers'
conduct and investigates complaints.

"We have to remember that a lot of the source of the allegations are
drug-dealing criminals. This is a ploy by some defence lawyers to do
whatever they can to get their clients off."

If charges are laid against Toronto officers, the impact could be huge. In
California, Los Angeles police are seeing that now as a team of prosecutors
begin to pore over as many as 3,000 criminal cases that could be tainted by
a team of officers. More than 800 cases involving one particular officer are
part of the review.