INDICTMENT PUTS TARGET ON MARTIN

A Shuswap man wanted in the United States for his alleged involvement
in a cross-border smuggling operation may have reason to fear for his
life.

U.S. authorities have begun the process to extradite Colin Hugh Martin
of Malakwa, and three other B.C. residents, Sean William Doak, James
Gregory Cameron and Adam Christian J. Serrano, for their involvement
in a Canada-U.S. smuggling ring where quantities of marijuana and
ecstasy were flown from B.C. to Washington by helicopter and exchanged
for cocaine.

The men are named in an indictment, filed on Dec. 22 in a U.S.
District Court in Washington, for conspiracy to possess with intent to
distribute controlled substances. The indictment describes the size,
scope and known duration of the operation, which was busted in March
2009 following a joint investigation by the RCMP and the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Agency.

It claims Martin contacted U.S. authorities in September October and
November, and offered to provide "ongoing information regarding drug
trafficking." It is stated Martin claimed to have the ability to
control 70 per cent of what is coming in and going out of B.C., that
he has had a "long history of credibility in the drug business," and
that he offered to identify "other conspirators" so long as he was
"allowed to continue his drug business for 10 years and was assured
that law enforcement would arrest only other people."

Martin was unavailable to comment on these allegations. The RCMP,
however, say they visited Martin soon after the indictment was made
public to offer a warning.

"We learned of his name being mentioned in a U.S. court as an
informant so, obviously, we felt we had a duty to warn him about that,
which we did," said RCMP Division E spokesperson Sgt. Rob Vermeulen.

Martin is reported to have said, after this meeting with police, that
there is a contract on his life. Vermeulen would not comment on this,
but he said it is RCMP policy that the identity of any informant must
be protected at all times.

Emily Langlie, public affairs officer for the U.S. attorney's office
in Seattle, says they share a similar policy, and that the indictment
does not identify Martin as an informant.

"Clearly that is not our policy," said Langlie. "I think that it's
been misconstrued in other publications."

The statutory penalty for the charges laid out in the indictment, says
Langlie, are a mandatory minimum of 10 years to life in prison.

Martin has said he plans to fight any attempts at extradition.

Eight men, including Martin and a Salmon Arm resident, were arrested
in March after U.S. authorities seized two helicopters, 83 kilograms
of cocaine, 20 pounds of ecstasy and 750 pounds of marijuana.

The investigation, dubbed Operation Blade Runner, began in the U.S.
after police seized 83 kilograms of cocaine and arrested one Canadian
and one American.

Information from these arrests led to the Feb. 23 arrest of Samuel
Brown, a 24-year-old Revelstoke man who police allege was attempting
to offload 426 pounds of marijuana utilizing a Bell 206 helicopter.
The helicopter, leased through the Malakwa-based Gorge Timber
Corporation, was reported stolen by Martin on the morning of Feb. 25.
On Feb. 27, Brown was found to have hung himself in a Spokane County
jail.