TESTIMONY TAKES JURY INSIDE DRUG DEALS

Police Informant Details Major Exchanges

Career criminal Franco Atanasovic told jurors Tuesday how he
carefully negotiated three major drug deals with Hells Angel Ian
Grant -- and stole $5,000 in police money -- through a series of
secret messages and meetings.

At least Grant thought they were secret, since he had no idea
Atanasovic was actually working as a police agent and wearing a
hidden microphone as part of a major undercover sting operation.

Grant was one of 15 people arrested in February 2006. He is the first
to go on trial and has pleaded not guilty to nine charges including
drug trafficking, extortion, proceeds of crime and participating in a
criminal organization.

Atanasovic said the highly paranoid Grant first approached him on
July 20, 2005 with a hush-hush offer to sell him a kilogram of crystal meth.

The two men initially met at a Salisbury House restaurant but quickly
moved to a nearby park, where Grant pulled out his Blackberry pager
and wrote a series of instructions.

"He made a motion for me not to talk" Atanasovic told jurors on Tuesday.

"Every time he'd type a question he'd pass it to me to type an answer."

Atanasovic said Grant told him five minutes "of this" -- feigning a
typing motion -- would save him five years "of this" - a handcuff gesture.

Atanasovic said he was told to return to the restaurant parking lot
later that night, leave his vehicle doors unlocked and go for a walk.
When he returned, a bag would be waiting for him on the floor.

Atanasovic -- along with a team of surveillance officers -- followed
the instructions and watched as a black car pulled up and quickly
deposited a bag inside Atanasovic's empty vehicle.

They later opened the package to find a kilogram of crystal meth.

Atanasovic said he was called to Grant's East Kildonan home the
following day to pay $40,000 for the package. Police supplied him the
money, and Atanasovic said he arrived to find Grant still paranoid
about being watched.

"He had this whiteboard that he held up and had written 'Don't talk
about last night' on it," said Atanasovic.

The second alleged drug deal involving Grant went down on Aug. 22.
Atanasovic said Grant told him to go to the Burger Factory parking
lot on Portage Avenue, where another kilogram of meth would be delivered.

This time, Atanasovic said, he was told to leave the $40,000 on the
front seat of his car.

The deal went down -- with police once again watching from a distance
- -- as a black car pulled up and swapped bags from inside Atanasovic's
vehicle. Once again a kilogram of meth was left behind.

Atanasovic said Grant began asking if he wanted to buy some cocaine
and made him a sweet deal -- Grant would sell him a kilogram for
$33,000 instead of the going-rate of $38,000 if he promised to buy
exclusively from him.

Atanasovic agreed, but admitted Tuesday he didn't tell police about
the $5,000 reduction in price when he obtained the latest batch of
police money to make the buy.

That's because Atanasovic had plans to pocket the money himself and
even involved his teen son in the scam.

On Sept. 1, Atanasovic had the boy meet him inside the washroom of
the Burger Factory where he slipped him the money under a stall. The
plan nearly backfired when Atanasovic learned the deal was actually
supposed to be going down at the Salisbury House.

He quickly retrieved the money from his son and went to Sals -- along
with the police cover team -- where they watched as a kilogram of
bagged cocaine was left behind in his vehicle in exchange for the
money on the seat.

Atanasovic then later met privately with Grant to retrieve the
"extra" $5,000 he had paid. The theft of money from police only came
to light two months ago and is currently being investigated for
possible criminal charges against Atanasovic, jurors were told.

The Crown finished its direct examination of Atanasovic Tuesday
afternoon. He returns to the witness stand today for
cross-examination from Grant's lawyer.