Pubdate: Thu, 01 Apr 2004
Source: Ottawa Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2004, Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact:  http://www.fyiottawa.com/ottsun.shtml
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/329
Author: Donna Casey

SPECIALIZED FORCE TRACES PAPER TRAIL

THE LONG arm of the law dealt a crippling blow to an international crime 
ring yesterday, striking decisively in a carefully crafted investigation 
that's been in the works for two years. With Ottawa and Ontario provincial 
police joining RCMP officers in raiding dozens of homes and businesses in 
the capital, lead investigators say yesterday's mammoth bust was an 
exercise in perseverance and teamwork.

"An enormous amount of commitment and flexibility was required from each 
member of the team," said Project Codi leader RCMP Staff Sgt. Jacques 
Lemieux, adding "enormous planning" helped to pull off one of the biggest 
drug and money-laundering investigations in North America.

More than 300 police officers executed over 30 pre-dawn raids throughout 
the city, capping a two-year international investigation that relied on 
undercover agents, informants and wiretaps.

A veteran money-laundering investigator said police likely drafted a 
detailed takedown plan at least a month in advance.

Proceeds-of-crime investigators will now be combing through evidence seized 
yesterday to trace a dirty money trail to the crime ring's major players, 
said Garry Clement, who spent 21 years in the RCMP's integrated 
proceeds-of-crime section before retiring from the section's top post last 
year.

Lifestyle Vs. Income

"They look for the financial records, expensive purchases, artwork, coin 
collections, expensive furnishings and the like. What they are trying to 
establish is that the individual did not have the legitimate income to 
justify this status in life," said Clement, who is now chief of the Cobourg 
Police Service.

While yesterday's sting snared both ringleaders and low-level drug runners, 
Clement said investigators will rely on the crime ring's middlemen to spill 
the beans on their masters.

"The hope is in a big case like this is that a few of these people decide 
to co-operate," said Clement, who has co-ordinated dozens of drug and 
money-laundering raids. "You're looking for someone in the upper echelon 
who is going to co-operate. Generally you need someone higher up who is 
going to say, 'Yes, this was my accountant, this is how we money-laundered, 
we have money overseas.' "

Clement said virtually all proceeds-of-crime cases wind up with guilty 
pleas, based on what he calls "overwhelming evidence."

He said unlike the lone traffic officer approaching a car by the roadside, 
undercover officers know with whom they're dealing when infiltrating the 
seedy underworld of drug traffickers.

"Generally speaking, we have a good idea what we're walking into and we put 
in lots of safeguards to make sure our operators are fairly well protected." 
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman