J-Tornado drug trial: code names key to prosecution case

The judge overseeing the ongoing drug trial of Shane Williams and Joshua Kindred seemed to acknowledge Wednesday the case is boiling down to whether the Crown can prove the two men were behind cellphone code names "ferrarigang" and "hummertime."

"At the end of the day I'll have to be satisfied that the relevant (email) intercepts originated with the accused,"saidCourt of Queens Bench Justice William Grant,as lawyers argued over whether either accused has yet been tied to any crime.

Williams, 32, and Kindred, 39, have been on trial for various drug possession, trafficking and conspiracy charges since April.

They were among 28 people arrested by police in 2014 as part of Operation J-Tornado, a three-year-long investigation into drug trafficking in New Brunswick.

7 cocaine shipments tracked

As part of J-Tornado, police documented seven cocaine shipments headed to Saint John during the summer of 2014 of between 250 and 1,000 grams.

They claim either Williams or Kindred or both organised all seven, even though neither man was viewed near any of the transactions when they occurred.

On Wednesday, the court saw video of one of the alleged drug transactions on July 22,2014,where two men are said to exchange nearly $42,000 for 612 grams of cocaine in the parking lot of the Chateau Saint John.

RCMP Sgt. Dustine Rodier testified she filmed the transaction from an upper floor of the hotel, but when money and cocaine are actually exchanged she said it was between Shane Simpson of Moncton, and Saint John's John Deas.

Both were eventually arrested as part of the J-Tornado sweep.

Trying to tieaccused to code names

However, of more interest to the Crown isa series of emails intercepted by police between ferrarigang and hummertime, where they appear to organize and discuss the July 22 transaction before it occurs.

The Crown insists those emails are between Williams and Kindred because they come from phones given to those two by an undercover agent working for police.

Both defence lawyers allege the police agent was untrustworthy and have suggested he could have been sending the emails himself to make it look like they came from Williams and Kindred.

Kindred`s lawyer, Reid Chedore, has raised doubts Kindred ever got a phone.

The police agent, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, was a former Saint John businessman, drug dealer and one-time close friend of Williams, who was promised nearly $600,000 by police if evidence he helped collect in the case resulted in arrests.

Justice Grant agreed the police agent's credibility is a "major" issue in the trial.