Yukon charge against accused drug courier dismissed over evidence issues

A man whose fingerprints were found on a package of cocaine in Whitehorse has been acquitted in Yukon territorial court.

Jason McMillan, 42, of Vernon, B.C., was tried for drug traffickingin August.He is one of the people charged during the Yukon RCMP's Operation Monolith in 2013.

The RCMP described it as one of the most significant organized crime investigations ever done in the territory and said it had broken up a major supply line of cocaine.

Undercover agent recruited for major RCMP operation

The operation included the recruitment of a senior Whitehorse drug dealer who becamea paid undercover agent for the police. The agent, who is in a witness protection program, cannot be identified because of a court order.

The federal prosecutor in the case, Eric Marcoux, admitted his case was circumstantial.

RCMP forensics specialist Doug Spencer testified that one of McMillan's fingerprints was found on a piece of tape binding a one kilogram package of cocaine underneath a layer of shrink wrap and another print was found on a plastic bag the cocaine was in.

The undercover agent testified he had seen McMillan in Whitehorse in early August, 2013. But McMillan was charged with possessing cocaine "or about August 30, 2013, at or near Whitehorse."

There was no evidence presented at the trial, however, indicating he was in Whitehorse at that time.

Crown couldn'tprove accused was drug courier

Judge Karen Ruddy says accused people have the right to know the details of the charges against them so they can defend themselves including the place and time.She says the evidence was not strong enough to support the prosecution contention that McMillan had helped with the packaging of the cocaine and then driven it to the Yukon from southern B.C.

McMillan's print underneath the shrink wrap suggests he handled the package in B.C.Ruddy says he could have been charged with possessing the cocaine in B.C., but it's questionable whether a Yukon court would have jurisdiction in that case.

Another trial arising from the same cocaine shipment has been held in Whitehorse since McMillan's trial.
Kuntoniah Graham, also known as Jimmy Graham, was convicted in early September of cocaine trafficking.

The trials of the alleged bosses in the drug ring, Jesse Ritchie and Asif Aslam, are set for the spring.