N.W.T. judge reserves decision on validity of search warrant in drug case

Two Alberta men facing cocaine trafficking charges in the Northwest Territories must wait until June for a pivotal decision in their case.

In a statement of agreed facts, Mahmoud Taliani and Quintin Glasgow-Brownlow admit they were in a Yellowknife hotel room the evening of Dec. 1, 2017, when police arrived with a search warrant.

The two also concede that police found just under 200 grams of crack cocaine packaged in tiny amounts for sale on the streets. Most of the drugs were hidden in a portable CD player.

Lastweek, lawyers for Taliani and Glasgow-Brownlow argued the search of the hotel room was unlawful because police exaggerated the evidence they had in order to obtain the warrant to enter the room. Three RCMP who kept watch on the hotel the day of the bust testified about what they saw and heard.

The defence lawyers are calling on the judge to exclude the drugs police found from being used as evidence against the men in their trial for possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. If the judge agrees, the prosecutor's case will likely collapse.

Accused says he was just 'sight-seeing'

At the conclusion of the hearing, prosecutor Brendan Green said the three RCMPofficers who testified are the only witnesses he intends to call in the case.

The investigation that led to the arrest of Taliani and Glasgow-Brownlow began on Nov. 30,when RCMP received a tip from the Saskatoon Police Service's vice squad. A woman who worked as an escort in that city had called themsaying she needed police help to escape from men who were trafficking her.

A man police charged with human trafficking was discharged after his preliminary inquiry when the woman recanted her story.

RCMP announced the arrest of Taliani and Glasgow-Brownlow at the same time as the man later discharged.

During a break in this week's hearing, Taliani said he has a mother and sister and would never be involved in human trafficking. When asked what he was doing in Yellowknife at the time of his arrest, he said, "Sight-seeing."

N.W.T. Supreme Court Justice Shannon Smallwood said she will give her decision on the validity of the search warrant June 5.