OFFICERS FACE CHARGES OF FRAUD, THEFT AND ASSAULT

Six Set To Turn Themselves In Today Culmination Of 30-Month Probe

Six veteran Toronto police officers, once frontline troops in this
city's war on drugs, are expected to face 22 criminal charges today
that, according to several sources, include allegations of theft,
fraud and assault.

The charges won't come as a surprise to some of the officers, who have
suspected for months they might be the focus of a probe led by the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

One Toronto officer was even followed by a surveillance officer to the
police association headquarters, on Yorklands Blvd. in North York,
where he had gone to attend a union meeting.

Rick McIntosh, head of the 7,000-member police association, was not
immediately available for comment, but it was expected that the union
would fund the legal defence for the six, likely to cost several
hundred thousand dollars.

The long-anticipated charges come following an intensive, 30-month
investigation into allegations of corruption among officers from the
central field command drug squad and other units investigating the
sale of illicit narcotics, such as crack cocaine and heroin.

There had been late discussions on whether the officers should be
arrested and handcuffed as they left their homes or arrived at work.

By late yesterday, however, it was decided they should be allowed to
surrender themselves at a police station, in what is called a "friendly."

The officers were expected to arrive at the undisclosed station this
morning, along with their lawyers, be processed and later taken to
court, then released with a promise to appear in court in the next few
weeks.

Police officers facing serious criminal allegations are usually
suspended with pay until their case is over.

A trial, said one insider, could be two or even three years away, as
lawyers begin the slow and arduous job of going through the
"discovery" package - all the evidence compiled by the task force
during its 2 1/2-year probe.

The task force, headed by RCMP chief superintendent John Neily, began
delving into the murky underworld of Toronto's illicit drug trade
following unproven allegations that dealers were being "ripped off" by
those who were supposed to enforce the law.

It has been estimated that the investigation cost considerably more
than $3 million.

The special squad, working out of a secret location in North York, was
comprised of officers with the Toronto force, themselves sworn to
secrecy while delving into the alleged wrongdoing of their brother
officers.

A special prosecutor with the Ministry of the Attorney-General spent
the past six months reviewing the compiled evidence before deciding to
proceed with the charges.

Earlier this week, the task force announced charges against former
central command drug officer Ned Maodus, 40. Maodus was charged Monday
with possession of heroin and cocaine for the purpose of trafficking
and possession of ecstasy.

One former Toronto drug squad officer, Robert Kelly, has been
convicted. Kelly pleaded guilty in June to possessing 3.15 grams of
cocaine. His sentencing hearing is to continue in a Brampton courtroom
Jan. 23.

Allegations being made by the task force against the six drug squad
officers expected to be charged today stem from an earlier probe by
the force's internal affairs unit, dating back to 1999.

That investigation led to charges of theft, fraud and forgery against
eight central drug squad officers in November, 2000.

While those charges were still before the court, Chief Julian Fantino
called in Neily in July, 2001, to lead a task force that would include
reviewing the work done by the internal affairs unit.

Just after the task force was announced, federal drug prosecutors made
public the fact that 115 drug cases had been stayed because of the
probe into the Toronto drug squad.

Prosecutors dropped another bombshell in February, 2002, when they
went into court and stayed all the charges against the eight officers,
saying the prosecution might compromise the ongoing investigation by
Neily's team.

A charge of perjury against a ninth officer was also
stayed.

While the RCMP-led task force quietly went about its business,
reviewing drug cases, talking to those arrested by certain officers,
and developing informants, the case became very public when former
drug defendants and narcotics officers started filing civil suits.

In several suits, people arrested by drug squad officers are claiming
their rights were violated or that money and belongings were stolen
from them during police raids.

Eight officers have filed their own $116 million lawsuit against
Neily, Fantino, crown attorneys and government officials, claiming
they are the subject of a witch hunt by the force and province.