Pubdate: Wed, 22 Jun 2005
Source: Mississauga News (CN ON)
Copyright: The Mississauga News 2005
Contact:  http://www.mississauganews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/268
Author: Louie Rosella

AIR CANADA EMPLOYEE KEY PLAYER IN SMUGGLING RING

Drugs Hidden On Planes

A Mississauga man who used his job at Air Canada to become a major
player in an international smuggling ring has been found guilty of
trafficking and importing drugs.

The 12 jurors deliberated for nearly two days before finding
37-year-old Allan Quidley guilty on five of seven criminal charges he
was facing in connection with a smuggling ring that operated in 1999
and 2000.

He was a key player in a ring that smuggled millions of dollars of
illegal narcotics through Pearson International Airport, according to
prosecutors.

Quidley was convicted of conspiracy to import cocaine and hashish,
trafficking and importing cocaine and importing hashish.

The jury acquitted Quidley on one count of importing hashish, while
jury members were hung on a charge of importing cocaine.

Quidley will remain in custody until he is sentenced Aug. 12 in
Brampton court.

Throughout the month-long trial that wrapped up last week, Federal
Crown Prosecutor Kelly Gorman said Quidley was a key player in a drug
smuggling operation that saw airplane "groomers" remove drugs had been
hidden in the walls and ceilings of planes arriving in Mississauga
from Montego Bay and Kingston, Jamaica in 1999 and 2000.

In the airport industry, an employee who boards and cleans planes
between flights is known as a groomer.

Quidley was among more than a dozen people charged in November of
2000.

Gorman told jurors during Quidley's trial the scheme was "ingenious
but simple," and also involved drug couriers from Jamaica.

The mules boarded flights in Kingston and Montego Bay carrying large
quantities of drugs and hid them during the flight in ceiling and wall
panels of aircraft washrooms.

The drugs were later retrieved by groomers, Gorman
said.

An anonymous tip led to a joint investigation by the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police and Canada Customs officers, who seized $10 million
worth of drugs, the prosecutor said.

The key prosecution witness was Jeff Cahill, a former Air Canada
cleaner who took part in the drug smuggling.

He was granted immunity in return for testifying against
Quidley.

Cahill said the operation was earning him $50,000 a month.
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