COCAINE-TRAFFICKING CASE COLLAPSES

RCMP Investigators On Sick Leave, Can't Testify Against Four
Men

The Crown has dropped its case against four men charged in a massive
cocaine-trafficking ring allegedly linked to organized crime because
the investigating RCMP drug officers were on sick leave.

In a telephone interview yesterday, federal drug prosecutor Ted Graham
said the five RCMP officers were his main witnesses and he had "zero"
evidence to call because they weren't available to testify.

The officers made national headlines five months ago when they
launched a $5-million lawsuit against their boss, alleging he'd
poisoned their work atmosphere through intimidation and harassment,
which caused them to take medical leave for post-traumatic stress.

The cocaine case collapsed the day the preliminary hearing was set to
begin in Burlington on Sept. 27 when Graham asked that the charges of
cocaine trafficking and conspiracy to traffic cocaine be dropped.

As a result, Trifu Margan, 58, and Sharame (Sean) Sherzady, 28, both
of Burlington, and Jimmy David Lawrence, 32, and Randy Rohan Singh,
both of London, Ont., were cleared in what had been touted as one of
the biggest drug cases in Halton history.

At the time of their arrest in July 2005, police issued a press
release stating they'd seized $144,000 in drug money, two kilograms of
cocaine and a .22-calibre handgun with a silencer.

Police claimed that each person arrested was involved in the sale and
distribution of large amounts of cocaine in southern Ontario. In a
press release at the time of the arrests, police also alleged Sherzady
was linked to the Hells Angels in London, Ont., Toronto and Ottawa,
traditional organized crime groups in Ontario, and Persian gangs in
Ontario and British Columbia.

The case started to fall apart about five months ago when Sergeant
Peter Kidd, Constable Luis Cerritos, Constable Augustine Chung,
Corporal David Hoto and Corporal Gerard Markie each filed a $1-million
suit against their boss, Inspector Jym Grimshaw.

The officers alleged Grimshaw had assailed them with racial epithets
and had called them "rat" and "whistle blowers." They also alleged he
had falsified documents and bragged about once handcuffing a suspect
to a tree and exposing him to mosquitoes. None of the allegations has
been proven in court.

Grimshaw was the head of the Stoney Creek-based Golden Horseshoe
Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU) at the time of the
arrests and oversaw the cocaine-trafficking investigation.

During the investigation, the RCMP worked with officers from Halton,
Hamilton and Niagara. The squad was established to investigate major
drug dealers and other organized crime groups in southern Ontario.

In July 2005, Grimshaw was one of the main police spokespeople when
the charges against Sherzady and the others were announced.

He has since been transferred to another section in Toronto and has
been replaced at CFSEU by Hamilton Inspector Ted Davis.

RCMP spokesperson Corporal Michelle Paradis said she couldn't comment
on the case or say whether the officers were still off on sick leave.

She said it was strictly up to the federal drug prosecutor to decide
whether to proceed with the charges.

Halton police Deputy Chief Andrew Fletcher said he was "disappointed"
that the case had collapsed.

"A lot of time and effort went into it," he added. "It's always in the
province of the Crown to withdraw a charge based on the evidence it
has."

Dan Brien, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice, said a
prosecutor has to consider whether there's a reasonable prospect of
conviction and public interest in deciding whether to scrap a
prosecution. If there had been a chance of resurrecting the case at a
later date, he suggested Graham might have stayed -- rather than
withdrawn -- the charges.