DEA operated 'illegally' in Canada, B.C. Supreme Court judge says

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Photo by JOHANNES EISELE /AFP/Getty Images

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A B.C. Supreme Court judge has ended an extradition proceeding for an unnamed Canadian because agents for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration “operated unlawfully and illegally in Canada.”

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Justice Catherine Murray said DEA agents approached the Canadian, an alleged drug smuggler, on this side of the border without first contacting the RCMP as required.

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During a series of meetings in Canada, the main DEA agent, identified as Jane Doe in the ruling, pressured the man to co-operate against the U.S.-based target of the investigation, Murray said.

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The U.S. agents threatened the man with prosecution, copied messages from his BlackBerry phone and even sent him to a third, unnamed country in a bid to entrap their target in a money laundering scheme.

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“The DEA themselves took actions that, in the absence of the supervision of the RCMP, were illegal under Canadian law,” Murray said.

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“Given what I consider to be egregious misconduct of the DEA, I conclude that proceeding with a trial would be harmful to the integrity of the justice system. Doing so would lend tacit legitimacy to clearly illegitimate actions and send a message that foreign states do not have to comply with RCMP protocols.”

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All names, dates and places are redacted in the ruling, which was posted on the court’s website Wednesday, but is dated April 1.

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Despite agreeing to co-operate, the Canadian, called NP for “named person,” in the ruling, was eventually charged in the U.S. and was subject to extradition proceedings.

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Through his lawyer, he argued that the DEA’s conduct in Canada amounted to an abuse of process and that the case against him should be thrown out.

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Murray noted that the series of events involving the DEA stemmed from NP’s alleged involvement in a plot to export drugs from an unidentified location to B.C. in 2014 and 2015.

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NP was arrested “in the culmination of the DEA investigation,” but released the next day and told to attend court. When he arrived, his name was not on the court list.

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“Shortly thereafter … three people showed up at NP’s door,” the ruling said. Two were from an unnamed Canadian police force. The third was DEA Special Agent Doe.

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Doe “told NP that he was in serious trouble in the U.S. and that he had three options: He could run and eventually they would find him, he could go to prison, or he could co-operate with them,” Murray said.

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NP consulted his Canadian lawyer and a U.S. lawyer. The Canadian lawyer wrote to Doe and later met her and a second DEA agent to discuss a possible co-operation deal, which NP decided to sign.

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It was only then that the DEA sent a request to the RCMP saying that it wanted to conduct an interview with “a Canadian citizen that is subject to criminal charges in the United States” and wanted to determine “a way forward” for the DEA to establish NP as a confidential source based in Canada.