Pubdate: Sun, 10 Jan 2010
Source: Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA)
Copyright: 2010 The Spokesman-Review
Contact:  http://www.spokesman.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/417
Author: Meghann M. Cuniff, Staff Writer

DETAILS EMERGE ON INTERNATIONAL DRUG RING WITH SPOKANE TIES

One Member Had Tried To Make Deal With DEA

An international drug ring that led to a young man's  suicide in the
Spokane County Jail was headed by four  Canadian men, authorities
allege, one of whom offered  to cooperate if investigators let him
continue his  operation for a decade.

That claim from federal agents, included in recently  filed
indictments in U.S. District Court in Seattle,  led Canadian
authorities to warn the would-be informant  last month that gangsters
could be conspiring to kill  him.

Colin Hugh Martin, of Malakwa, B.C., is accused of  helping run a
multimillion-dollar international  smuggling operation that used
helicopters to distribute  thousands of pounds of marijuana, cocaine
and Ecstasy,  landing in remote sites in Eastern Washington and North 
Idaho.

He was indicted late last month on federal drug  conspiracy charges
with three other Canadian men: Sean  William Doak, James Gregory
Cameron and Adam Christian  J. Serrano.

The indictment gives new details about a major  smuggling operation
that stretched from Mexico to  Canada and led to sealed court filings
and closed court  hearings in Washington state as defendants said they
 feared for their lives if word of their possible  cooperation became
public.

The investigation became known among federal agents as  Operation
BladeRunner.

Reaction in Canada to details in the new indictment  about Martin's
alleged offer to turn in his associates  underscored those fears.

Martin called the Drug Enforcement Administration in  September and
offered to "provide ongoing information  regarding drug trafficking
into the United States," the  indictment says.

Over the next two months, the document alleges, Martin  communicated
with an unspecified individual in the  United States and claimed to
have "the ability to  control 70 percent of the work that comes out of
B.C.  and what comes into B.C."

He offered to identify conspiracies and aid in drug  busts if he would
be allowed to continue his drug  business for 10 years, according to
the indictment.

Those allegations led Canadian authorities on Dec. 28  to warn Martin
about the possibility of retaliation.

"His name was mentioned in a way we felt would  compromise his
safety," said Sgt. Rob Vermeulen of the  Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Emily Langlie, spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's  office in Seattle,
said the office would never identify  an informant, which she said
Martin is not.

Federal prosecutors don't accept offers such as  Martin's anyway, she
said. "Categorically, we do not  allow informants to break the law or
give them some  kind of free pass to break the law," she said.

Martin owned the helicopter flown by Samuel Jackson  Lindsay-Brown
when he was arrested in the Colville  National Forest, accused of
transporting more than 400  pounds of marijuana.

The marijuana, authorities say, was meant to be traded  for cocaine
transported by two men arrested in Utah  days earlier, Leonard J.
Ferris and Ross N. Legge, who  had a storage unit in Spokane Valley.
Ferris was  sentenced to six years in federal prison last month. 
Legge is fighting charges in Utah.

Lindsay-Brown, 24, committed suicide in Spokane County  Jail on Feb.
27. Martin told authorities that  Lindsay-Brown had stolen the helicopter.

But according to the new indictment, after  Lindsay-Brown was
arrested, Doak allegedly sent a  BlackBerry message to a
co-conspirator saying Martin  "will be lucky if he is not dead" and
saying he'll  likely have to pay for the lost load, estimated to be 
worth $4 million to $5 million.

Martin, Doak, Cameron and Serrano are accused of  orchestrating
another drug deal a week later in which  another young man flew a
helicopter with marijuana into  the United States, this time landing
near Priest Lake,  Idaho. Jeremy Snow, of Kelowna, B.C., was sentenced
in  October to 46 months in prison.

Serrano allegedly sent BlackBerry messages to  co-conspirators days
before Snow's flight, looking for  someone to pick up cocaine in Los
Angeles. DEA agents  say he's boasted of smuggling up to 300 kilograms
of  cocaine per week from the United States to Canada at  $14,000 per
kilogram.

According to the new indictment, Snow's helicopter was  owned by a
friend of Joseph Patrick Curry, a reputed  Canadian gangster and
associate of Clay Roueche.

Curry, who's accused of loading the helicopter with  drugs, is wanted
in U.S. District Court in Spokane  after posting bail on drug charges
in 2007 and never  returning to court, according to court documents. 
Roueche, the founder of the Vancouver, B.C.-based gang  United
Nations, was sentenced to 30 years in prison  last month on drug
conspiracy charges in U.S. District  Court in Seattle.

A woman sentenced on drug charges related to the case  last year,
Lucretia James, cited a murder kit found at  Roueche's home --
including guns, handcuffs and  night-vision goggles -- when asking for
details of her  plea deal to be kept secret. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr