Police targeted low-level drug dealers in J-Tornado, hired 'kingpin,' lawyer argues

A police attempt to get J-Tornado drug suspect Shane Williams to buy up to 20 kilograms of cocaine for $800,000 toward the end of the investigation shows how misguided law enforcement was about organized crime in Saint John, Williams' defence lawyer argued in court on Friday.

"You must have been surprised when Mr. Williams could barely get enough money together for onekilogram, he was so organized," Brian Munro said during cross-examination ofOperation J-Tornado's lead investigator,RCMP Sgt. Marco Vachon.

"Do you think organized crime groups in Montreal have a hard time scraping together enough money to buy one kilogram of cocaine?"

Munro has been arguing police spent three years targeting low-level drug suspects in the Saint John area after unknowingly hiring the actual local drug "kingpin" to help in the investigation.

Williams, of Smithtown, and Joshua Kindred, of Saint John, who are both in their 30s, are both on trial in Saint John's Court of Queen's Bench on drug possession, drug trafficking and conspiracy charges.But the co-accused willalso face a second trial on even more serious charges related to organized crime.

Vachon said the man police hired to help gather evidence, who is a former Saint John restaurant owner, had been an informer for police since 2007 and was "good friends" with and a criminal associate of many of the top suspects J-Tornado was targeting. The man's identity is protected by a publication ban.

"I was aware of his criminal past," said Vachon, who confirmed that involved selling drugs and guns and counterfeiting cheques, including defrauding elderly victims.

"He was a busy boy," acknowledged Vachon about the man's criminal past, but said it seemed as though he had a genuine change of heart.

"I knew the man wanted to change his life. He was the perfect candidate to help us infiltrate a sophisticated operation in Saint John, New Brunswick."

But Munro claimed police were being duped and targeted suspects the man skillfully put in front of them to take suspicion off himself.

"Would you agree with me he was probably the biggest cocaine supplier Saint John has ever seen?" asked Munro.

"No," replied Vachon.

Munro said police had invested so much money in J-Tornado, $11 million by his count, there was pressure to make a big organized crime arrest at the end of the operation.

But he put it to Vachon that those who were eventually caught up in those arrests were only a group because police had supplied them all with cellphones and made them a group.

Vachon rejected the accusation.

"I was collecting evidence.I was not entrapping anyone."

Twenty-eight people werearrested on Sept. 10, 2014, during a series of raids across New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Quebecas a result of Operation J-Tornado.

The trial, which is behind schedule, continueson Saturday. The star witness, the former restaurant owner hired by police to collect evidence, is now scheduled to appear next week.