FEDS MUM ON BOGUS U.S. BUST

VICTORIA - Maybe they just don't care up in Ottawa that United States
agents feel free to enter Canada illegally, break our laws and then conceal
the evidence from the courts here.

For a week I've been trying to get someone -anyone - in the federal
government to describe Canada's response to a British Columbia court ruling
that U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency operatives knowingly broke our laws.

B.C Supreme Court Justice Janice Dillon found the Americans knowingly snuck
into Canada, ran an illegal operation and tried to conceal their activities
from the court - a shocking abuse of Canadian law, she called it.

"The illegal conduct is extremely offensive because of the violation of
Canadian sovereignty without explanation or apology," she wrote.

Talking to the federal government from B.C. is generally like shouting down
a long, hollow tube to a deaf man.

But Ottawa should have a response when a foreign government walks all over
its police and laws, especially when that foreign government is seeking to
have more and more of its agents operating in Canada.

Dillon was ruling on a U.S. bid to extradite Brent "Dave" Licht to
California to face cocaine charges, the end of a saga that wanders a long,
winding path from the Drug Enforcement Agency office in Los Angeles to a
White Rock pier.

The DEA plan originally targeted would-be Canadian cocaine importers. Two
paid informants were told to pretend to be Colombian drug dealers in Los
Angeles with lots of cocaine to sell. They found some interested buyers,
and set off on a trail that led to Vancouver. They wanted to follow that
trail across the border.

The rules governing a DEA operation in Canada are clear. A U.S.-Canada
agreement requires the DEA to get RCMP consent. They also needed a special
permit from the immigration minister because the undercover agent had a
criminal record.

And they needed approval from the RCMP's top narcotics officer to pretend
they had drugs for sale. The tactic is illegal in Canada except under tight
controls, because of the risk of injustice. When police approach potential
buyers, they may be creating a crime that would never have happened without
their instigation.

The Mounties said yes and the phoney dealer and his DEA handler came up.
But his efforts bombed; no big drug dealers were discovered. The DEA wanted
to try again, but the RCMP said no. They had higher priorities.

The DEA seemed to accept the decision. But a month later one of the
undercover agents entered Canada illegally, and ignoring our law and
agreements signed by his country, tried to make a drug deal.

Eventually a pretend deal in California was arranged, with Licht. He wasn't
there for the buy, so the U.S. set out to extradite him on conspiracy charges.

That's what led to Dillon's ruling. The Americans knowingly broke Canadian
law and violated international agreements, she found. They conducted an
illegal reverse sting. They tried to conceal the information from the
court. And they never offered any explanation for illegal acts. (This
wasn't some fluke. Documents showed the RCMP felt pressured to approve the
first operation quickly, because they feared the DEA would just go ahead
illegally.)

I expected a run-around from American officials. But surely the Canadian
government would have a response.

It took two days for a spokesman for Justice Minister Martin Cauchon to say
he had no comment, although he was considering an appeal - on behalf of the
Americans.

After more than a week of calls, Solicitor General Lawrence MacAulay's
staff still haven't explained whether the case is an aberration, whether it
will affect future DEA activities, how many legal DEA operations are
conducted in B.C. - or even whether they've asked the Americans for an
accounting for the illegal acts.

Our law should matter more than that.

- - Paul Willcocks is a Victoria-based political columnist.