DRUG PACKAGES REGULARLY SMUGGLED INTO JAIL - WITNESS

Man Testifies Accused Supplied Dope

Cigar-size packages of drugs are regularly smuggled into prison in
men's rectums, a Halifax jury heard Tuesday.

Bruce Jackson, a drug dealer turned police agent, is in the witness
box giving evidence in the trial of Brian James Bremner.

Mr. Bremner, also known as B.J. Marriott, is charged with conspiring
to traffic hashish and possessing hash for the purpose of
trafficking.

Mr. Bremner and three partners headed a drug ring that supplied
quantities of wholesale drugs to Mr. Jackson, the court was told.

"I believe they were all profiting from the dope I was selling," Mr.
Jackson testified.

He said he managed a crack shop where workers cut the crack into
smaller pieces and resold them.

In the summer of 2002, Mr. Bremner was in jail and ordered Mr. Jackson
and his partner to smuggle a package of crack, hash and pills to him.

"I figured I better do it," Mr. Jackson said. "I didn't know what was
going to happen to me.

"These ain't weak boys. They are strong," he said of Mr. Bremner and
his three partners.

The jury listened to a recording of a number of telephone calls
between Mr. Jackson and Mr. Bremner and between Mr. Jackson and
others, arranging the delivery.

When he wanted to talk business from prison, Mr. Bremner phoned his
mother and she dialled Mr. Jackson and linked the two men. Her voice
could be heard on the calls asking how long the two would likely talk.

During the calls, Mr. Bremner and Mr. Jackson talked about the drug
business and the delivery. Much of the conversation was difficult to
follow, even for the participants, as they spoke in code.

Mr. Jackson explained to the jury that drugs in prison are worth
double their usual street value.

The drugs are first wrapped in plastic wrap and stuffed into
condoms.

A man known as Honk because of his big nose was to do the smuggling.
He was to turn himself in and be sentenced to jail time.

Mr. Jackson told the court he gave Honk three packages of drugs, each
seven to eight centimetres long.

"He could only fit two up his rectum," Mr. Jackson
testified.

So Mr. Jackson gave the third package to his cousin's girlfriend to
smuggle into prison.

"She was going down on a trailer visit, so it was very easy for her to
get it to my cousin," Mr. Jackson said.

Halifax Regional Police gave Mr. Jackson $1,600 to buy the drugs for
prison, he testified.

Mr. Bremner was among 80 people arrested in Operation Midway, a 60-day
police drug sweep in 2002 that targeted wholesale dealers.

During that operation, Halifax police officers controlled Mr. Jackson,
recording some of his calls and giving him a wire to wear while making
some deals.

Mr. Jackson began working for the police after being caught with 50
grams of crack cocaine and $10,000. He worked out a deal with police
to drop the charges, he testified.

"How could I go to jail and be an agent? That's like sentencing me to
death," Mr. Jackson said during cross-examination by defence lawyer
Warren Zimmer.

Mr. Zimmer suggested that Mr. Jackson looked his friends in the eye
and misled them while co-operating with police.

"These friends are the same ones who were putting hits out on me," Mr.
Jackson replied.

The trial continues today.