Pubdate: Wed, 10 Oct 2012
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 The Vancouver Sun
Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Kim Bolan
Page: A9

JUDGE DENIES EXTRADITION APPEAL

Sharing details with U. S. of suspected drug trafficker's calls '
lawful'

The RCMP did not violate the privacy rights of a Lillooet man by
handing over intercepted calls to U. S. authorities in a cross-border
drug case, the B. C. Court of Appeal has ruled.

And the appeal court dismissed a bid by Andrew Gordon Wakeling to
overturn an earlier court ruling ordering his surrender to U. S.
authorities for prosecution.

Wakeling has been fighting extradition to Minnesota since 2007, when
he was arrested at his Lillooet home and charged with trafficking and
exporting ecstasy from Ontario to Minnesota.

Last year, B. C. Supreme Court Justice Carole Ross ordered Wakeling
extradited, rejecting his arguments that his Charter rights were
violated in the drug investigation, which began in 2006. Wakeling then
took the matter to the appeal court, arguing that Canadian authorities
shouldn't have handed over intercepts of his phone calls with his co-
accused without a court order.

On Tuesday, Appeal Court Justice Richard Low said Canadian police
acted in accordance with their international responsibilities by co-
operating with their U. S. counterparts.

"The RCMP investigators did not send the information to the United
States authorities under the provisions of the Privacy Act. They sent
it in accordance with international policing practices," Low said.

"The information gathered by lawful electronic interception becomes
law enforcement intelligence. In my opinion, it is no different than
information obtained from a police informer or information contained
in documents that lawfully come into the hands of the police."

Low said that in such cases, "if disclosure is in the interests of the
administration of justice, there is no need for prior judicial approval.

"Such requirements would formalize and hamper the interjurisdictional
investigation of crime and sometimes the prevention of crime," Low
said.

"What is practical and necessary for both crime detection and crime
prevention is the ability of police officers to lawfully inform their
counterparts in other jurisdictions about impending criminal activity,
as occurred in the present case, or past criminal activity."

Appeal Court Justices Anne Mackenzie and Harvey Groberman agreed with
Low. Wakeling was captured on Canadian wiretaps saying "a little bird
went canary on us" after a co- accused was arrested crossing into the
U. S. with 46,000 ecstasy pills in April 2006.

He is also intercepted making plans with co- accused Rodney Godbout to
transport "46" to Minneapolis, though the commodity being moved was
not identified in the calls.

U. S. authorities allege the conversations were about ecstasy being
smuggled across the border using couriers.
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MAP posted-by: Matt