Pubdate: Thu, 18 Sep 2003
Source: Age, The (Australia)
Copyright: 2003 The Age Company Ltd
Contact:  http://www.theage.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5
Author: Selma Milovanovic

BENT POLICE STOLE DRUGS, COURT TOLD

Police allegedly took 13.5 kilograms of marijuana valued at $100,000
from a man during a drug raid by corrupt detectives, a court was told
yesterday.

Daniel May, a witness, told the Melbourne Magistrates Court that he
had arranged to deliver the cannabis - which another man had brought
from South Australia - to an associate at the St Kilda Marina on May
10, 1999.

Mr May said that during the drug deal, two cars pulled up unexpectedly
and some plain-clothes police got out. He said one grabbed him,
handcuffed him and threw him face down to the ground. He said that in
the split second before he fell, he saw one of the men getting plastic
bags full of marijuana from the back of his truck before throwing them
to another. The police then let him go.

Mr May, who has been granted indemnity from prosecution in Victoria,
was giving evidence in the committal hearing of three Victorian
detectives, a former detective and a civilian who are charged with
stealing and trafficking cannabis worth $100,000.

Detective Sergeant Glenn Robert Saunders, 43, Detective Senior
Constables Peter John Alexander, 36, and Stephen Russell Campbell, 34,
and former detective sergeant David John Waters, 43, face five drugs
charges each, including stealing, trafficking and conspiring to
traffic cannabis. Another man, Mario Katsoulas, 41, of Malvern, is
charged with conspiring to traffic cannabis.

Mr May told the court: "Out of the corner of my eye I saw someone
climb onto the back of the truck... I heard the toolbox open and
someone pulled out the two garbage bags." Mr May said that when the
police finally lifted him off the ground, they told him they knew he
was just a delivery boy and that he would not have to take "the rap".

He said that before letting him go, they told him to "pull your head
in, don't let us see you with this shit again".

The court was told that at the time, nobody was charged over the
matter.

Earlier yesterday, Detective Inspector Robert Hodgkins, who was
Sergeant Saunders' supervisor, described Saunders as extremely
competent and capable. "He was a person who got the job done and
worried about the follow-up later," Inspector Hodgkins said. "He was
very effective."

Inspector Hodgkins told the court that Saunders gave him an
information report in May 1999, saying he had intercepted Mr May at
the St Kilda Marina looking for a gun in his truck, but could not find
any firearms inside.

The hearing continues before magistrate Frank Hodgens.
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