RCMP STING SPARKS CALL FOR INQUIRY

Opposition demands details on undercover drug operation

The federal government should hold an inquiry into a four-year covert RCMP
operation that facilitated efforts by Colombian drug traffickers and
Canadian mobsters to import and sell 5,000 kilograms of cocaine in Central
Canada, opposition parties said yesterday.

The calls for a public inquiry came from Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles
Duceppe and Reform party justice critic Jack Ramsay.

``A public inquiry is required. What happened is unconscionable,'' Mr.
Duceppe said. ``We need to hear how and why this happened.''

Solicitor General Andy Scott told the Commons yesterday he has requested a
full report about the troubled operation from RCMP Commissioner Phil
Murray.

``I'll have more to say when I get (the report),'' Mr. Scott told
journalists outside the Commons. ``Obviously, I'm concerned when such
allegations are made, but these are allegations. ... I think it's important
that we put all the facts on the table before making any more detailed
comment,'' he said.

A Citizen investigative report yesterday about the sting operation revealed
how staffing and resource shortages, corruption and internal RCMP turf wars
undermined the secret Montreal money-laundering operation.

In all, drug traffickers exchanged and laundered $141.5 million through the
undercover RCMP operation between 1990 and 1994.

But the Mounties were so short of staff and resources that only a fraction
of the suspects were investigated. And the agency never recovered $125
million of the $141.5 million that passed through its operation.

Mr. Ramsay said the Citizen's story, based on four years' worth of internal
RCMP investigation reports and other confidential federal documents, was
``very, very disturbing.

``It borders on incompetence at the highest levels of the RCMP. They were
aiding and abetting criminals,'' he said.

``The police have to set up these operations, but they have a duty and
obligation to ensure they're well supported and well run.

``Unfortunately, what seems to have happened here is that we had men and
women working on the operation who had their work and their efforts
undermined and denigrated because they had no resources,'' he concluded.

Mr. Duceppe agreed: ``I understand that the RCMP wants to lay traps for
members of organized crime, but if you lay the trap and, instead of
catching the beast, you then let the animal loose, there's a problem.''

Conservative MP Peter MacKay, citing the Citizen story, demanded to know
why Mr. Scott cut the RCMP's funding for combating organized crime by 13
per cent this year.

``The U.S. State Department already considers Canada to be on the best
places in the world for criminals to launder money,'' he said, referring to
a recent report from the U.S. government on the international drug trade.

Mr. Duceppe said the Bloc wants the federal government to take steps to
make money laundering more difficult, such as eliminating $1,000 bills.

``Canada is the only country to have bills for such large amounts and they
help drug traffickers,'' he said, adding that the RCMP has been asking for
that measure for several years.

Bloc MP Richard Marceau, the party's justice critic, called the quantity of
drugs the RCMP operation helped criminals bring into Canada mind-boggling.

``That's a lot of cocaine hitting the streets and getting into the hands of
adults and school children,'' Mr. Marceau said. ``It is unbelievable that
the RCMP would launch an operation and not back it with enough manpower.''

Reform's Mr. Ramsay said the Citizen's report raises disturbing questions
about lack of funding for the RCMP.

``How many other operations are being hindered or not even started because
they don't have enough officers and resources? We need to know.''

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)