PROSECUTORS PULL PLUG ON DRUG-GANG CASE

Edmonton - A major case involving 19 members of an alleged cocaine
trafficking ring collapsed under its own weight Friday.

The case was so unwieldy the Crown conceded it could not bring it to trial
in a reasonable amount of time, as guaranteed in the Charter of Rights and
Freedoms. The investigation originally netted about three dozen suspects.
Along the way, charges were dropped against several of them and officials
split the case into two prosecutions in an effort to simplify proceedings.

Even so, the Department of Justice said it finally had no choice but to pull
the plug on both.

"We have to give priority and abide by the right of an accused to have their
trial within a reasonable time," said Wes Smart, the federal department's
director of prosecutions on the Prairies.

"We're not in a position to say at this time we can do that or the court
will be able to do that. Therefore, we must end it."

The Crown was also unable to fulfill its obligation to disclose mountains of
evidence to the defence in a timely fashion, and the case was not well
co-ordinated with police, officials said.

Later on Friday, federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler said his department
will draft amendments that will cut paperwork by clarifying what core
information should be given to the defence.

Federal prosecutors had appealed an Edmonton judge's decision last fall to
stay charges against 11 accused in one of the two drug-ring cases on the
basis that their trial had been unreasonably delayed.

Prosecutors dropped that appeal Friday and stayed charges against the eight
remaining accused in the other case.

All told, 7.5 million pieces of paper were produced, each of which had to be
funnelled to each suspect's defence lawyer.

Some suspects had up to four defence lawyers, who also received hundreds of
cassette tapes holding an estimated 250,000 conversations.

Don Beardall, the federal Justice Department's anti-organized-crime
co-ordinator, said much has been learned.

"There's a need for Crown prosecutors and police to work together from the
outset of an investigation to make sure it's well-organized, that the
disclosure is well-managed and that the prosecution will flow with maximum
efficiency," he said.

Supt. Raf Souccar, director-general of the RCMP's drugs and organized crime
section, said police have changed their training and procedures.

"We now appoint disclosure officers at the outset of an investigation, not
at the end of the investigation."

Investigators and other staff have received more training on maintaining
electronic databases, he said.