$275G PAID TO DRUG MOLE

CALGARY -- Mounties paid a convicted cocaine dealer $275,000 to act as
their mole and finger other drug peddlers, a Calgary court heard yesterday.

And police even got outstanding trafficking charges against Cau (Twon) Tien
- - which would have sent him to prison - tossed for his help in nabbing
would-be dealers, he told a drug trial.

Tien told Justice Bonnie Rawlins he negotiated the deal to act as an agent
for the RCMP after being approached by Mounties while serving a two-year
trafficking term at Drumheller Institution.

He said the Edmonton drug squad hired him to weed out narcotics dealers
with the help of Const. Terry Richardson - who posed as his business
partner under the alias Big Jim. Their work eventually led them to target a
suspected cocaine and heroin dealer in Calgary, Tien testified.

He told Crown prosecutor Bob Sigurdson the target didn't want to make a
deal with Big Jim present, but passed his number on to Minh Tri Truong. On
Nov. 15, 1999, Tien and Richardson met with Truong to purchase two ounces
of heroin for $7,000, he testified. Truong, whom Tien knew as Dau Foo Ming,
was present when the drugs and money were later exchanged.

Truong, 47, faces a single charge of trafficking a narcotic in connection
with the deal.

Under cross-examination, defence lawyer Noel O'Brien suggested Truong was
simply helping Tien purchase the drugs, but had no direct involvement in
their sale.

O'Brien also grilled Tien about his deal with the Mounties, which included
a clause in which police wouldn't have to pay if they weren't satisfied
with his work.

O'Brien said all the money for surveillance work over a 15-month period in
Edmonton and Calgary, has been paid out.

Truong's trial continues.