POT WASN'T MINE, OFFICER TELLS COURT

A 14-year veteran Peel Police officer, accused of stealing fake
cocaine from a botched RCMP drug delivery, today explained why some
marijuana was also found in his garage during a search.

Const. Sheldon Cook said the pot was found in one of 10 boxes stored
in his garage by his brother Darren. The property belonged to his
brother's former tenant, who skipped out on his rent from a condo
leased by his brother, a real estate agent.

"I had absolutely no knowledge there was any marijuana in my
garage," Cook, 40, testified today at his Brampton trial. "There was
no odour indicating marijuana was there. If I had known, obviously I
would never have allowed the boxes to be stored in my garage."

Cook told his lawyer Pat Ducharme that Brake moved to Newfoundland
and has not been located, court heard.

Cook's brother also stored some of his own property in the garage
and a backyard shed while his new condo was being built, court heard.

The marijuana and 15 fake bricks of cocaine were discovered by the
RCMP in Cook's garage in Cambridge during a search warrant on Nov.
18, 2005. They were led there by a GPS tracking unit hidden among
the dummy drugs.

Cook has pleaded not guilty to seven criminal charges in the trial
which began in November. Cook's charges include attempt to possess a
controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking, possession of
marijuana for the purpose of trafficking, possession of stolen
property and breach of trust as a police officer.

He remains suspended with pay

Federal prosecutors say Cook took the drugs, which he believed were
real during his involvement in a crew investigating the seizure of
102 bricks of suspected cocaine from a courier truck the night
before in Mississauga.

The drugs turned out to be flour, part of a mistake-filled RCMP
controlled delivery from Peru to Canada that went missing 12 hours
earlier after arriving at Pearson International Airport.

The trial is continues.