Canada Customs plants drugs, firearms on travellers
HALIFAX (CP) - Canada Customs employees have planted illegal drugs and firearms in the luggage of unsuspecting travellers at Canadian airports since at least 1998 - in violation of federal policy, newly released records show.
The planted material, intended to help train scent dogs, became such a problem that the department issued a memo two years ago reminding dog-handlers that the procedure is strictly forbidden.
''Under no circumstances should members of the travelling public ever be used to carry hides (planted drugs and firearms) when conducting training sessions with the detector dog,'' says the July 28, 1998, warning from a senior enforcement official.
''This practice is inappropriate and potentially very embarrassing to the Department and it must stop immediately.'' Details of the violations were not provided. However, the memo - part of a file released under the Access to Information Act - did not curtail the forbidden procedure.
On March 8 this year, a department dog-handler planted an ounce of marijuana in a duffle bag owned by Jackie McCormick, a 70-year-old Fredericton woman returning from a Florida vacation. Don McGee put the dope in the luggage at the Moncton, N.B., airport to help train Jazz, his Labrador retriever, documents show.
But because of a communications breakdown, the duffle bag managed to slip through without McGee retrieving the dope. McCormick unwittingly brought it back to her Fredericton home.
McCormick discovered the grass, enclosed in a standard evidence bag used by Canada Customs, when she unpacked the next day. She panicked because she thought she had been used as an unwitting drug courier from Florida.
McCormick immediately called the Fredericton police, who contacted Canada Customs and returned the marijuana, which had been issued by Health Canada for dog-training purposes. McCormick, who had never seen marijuana previously, said Wednesday she and her husband are still upset about the incident.
''We were kind of afraid that somebody else might have put it in even in St. Petersburg (Fla.),'' she said. ''And then they may, because your name and everything is on the luggage, somebody could come looking for it.''
Canada Customs has since contacted her but has never apologized for the incident or offered compensation, she said.
''I just hate to let them off with it because they're very cocky,'' she said from Fredericton.
Almost a month after the incident, the department issued another memo warning against the practice.
''Once again it has come to our attention that some detector dog-handlers are using travellers to carry drug hides,'' says the April 4 circular, which had to be signed by every dog-handler.
''Under no circumstances shall members of the travelling public be used to carry drug hides.''
A spokeswoman for the department declined to comment Wednesday on whether any disciplinary measures were taken against McGee, one of about 40 Canada Customs dog-handlers across the country.
Collette Gentes-Hawn would only confirm that he is still employed at Canada Customs as a dog-handler. She added that the department did apologize to McCormick.
In previous violations of the policy, the planted dope was never picked up by passengers, she said from Ottawa.
''There were instances where this had been done but never were the drugs put in a bag and taken out of the bag later. Never had it gone to an individual.
''We never had a passenger go home with it.''
Courtesy of the Toronto Star
July 26, 2000