Extradition proceedings against alleged trafficker stayed due to DEA’s ‘shocking’ conduct, decision reads
U.S. federal agents pressured a Canadian into a money-laundering conspiracy while concealing their efforts from the RCMP, amounting to “shocking and flagrant” illegal behaviour and a violation of Canadian sovereignty, a B.C. judge has found.
In her scathing decision, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Catherine Murray ordered a stay of proceedings against the Canadian, due to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)’s “egregious” conduct.
The man had been facing extradition to the U.S. on drug trafficking charges stemming from a plot dating back to 2015.
Murray’s decision, dated April 1, was posted on the court’s website this week. The case was first reported by the Vancouver Sun.
Specifics, including the alleged drug trafficker’s identity, his hometown and even the narcotic he is accused of smuggling from the U.S. into Canada are redacted in the public version of the ruling.
The “experienced” DEA special agent at the centre of the case is referred to only as “Jane Doe.”
According to the judge’s decision, the American agent showed up at the man’s door with two Canadian detectives who were also operating outside of their jurisdiction. The man, identified in the court documents as “named person,” said he was later summoned to meet with U.S. investigators three times.
He ultimately signed an agreement to help in their probe focused on another unnamed target.
As part of that investigation, the DEA directed the Canadian to set up a deal to move an unspecified amount of cash for the target. Agents sent the man abroad to take part in the scheme and by the time he returned home, “he felt that his life was in jeopardy,” the judge’s decision says.
Murray said the plan amounted to a money-laundering conspiracy and that “the DEA was leading him into criminal conduct” without Canadian oversight or authorization.
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/dea-drug-trafficking-decision-bc-judge-9.7340597
