BUNGLED PROBE TO BE REOPENED

OTTAWA (CP) - The Canadian Forces' recently appointed ombudsman wants to
reopen a bungled drug investigation at a top-secret military eavesdropping
facility, CTV News reports.

"As soon as we are operational, we will move this to the top of the list and
tackle it in a very thorough fashion," Andre Marin, the military's civilian
watchdog, told CTV in a report prepared for broadcast yesterday.

Col. Patricia Samson, the provost marshal, or police chief, of the Forces,
said earlier yesterday that although the investigation was mishandled she
did not plan to reopen the probe.

Samson also said in a statement there was no evidence of any threat to
security after reports surfaced that there was a ring of drug users at
Canadian Forces Station Leitrim.

Leitrim is a facility just outside the capital which uses sensitive
receivers and sensors to listen in on radio and cell phone conversations.

Reform party critic Art Hanger called for Defence Min-ister Art Eg-gleton to
resign over the handling of the investigation.

Hanger said the minister misled the Commons last fall when he said the
investigation was complete and thorough. Just days later, a military police
review concluded the probe was thoroughly botched.

The Reformer conceded Egg-leton may have been kept in the dark himself.
Eggleton was on vacation and his office had no comment.

Hanger also said the drug case may have endangered national security if
sensitive information collected by the eavesdroppers at Leitrim was passed
on to drug traffickers.

"It is not an exaggeration to say that CFS Leitrim has a role to play in all
of Canada's national security," Hanger said.

A military police report released to CTV through the Access to Information
Act suggested the investigation was bungled by inexperienced, low-level
military cops who didn't have the savvy to interrogate suspects correctly or
run an undercover sting operation.

Samson said the review was deliberately intended to be "very critical." She
said police have learned from the experience.

The military police were told by an informant in the summer of 1995 there
was a ring of drug users at Leitrim. Before the cops could get the
investigation rolling, word spread the police were sniffing around.

When suspects were questioned that fall, they admitted to drug use before
joining the military, but denied any such behavior after enlisting. By
January 1996, the police concluded the trail was cold. The police gave the
whole thing up as impossible in July 1996.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett