Sue Montgomery, The Montreal Gazette
Alain Olivier was a small-time drug addict who alleges he was used by the RCMP to set up a drug deal in Thailand, then was sentenced to life in prison for his deed. Now, almost 20 years later, he’s suing the RCMP for $47.5 million for entrapment.
The suit contends the RCMP “relentlessly hounded Olivier through … threats and intimidation” for 20 months – a charge the RCMP’s Public Complaints Commission later supported.
Olivier, a Drummondville resident with no previous criminal record, finally obliged because he was afraid he’d be killed.
In 1987, he’d been identified to the RCMP as a possible drug importer by informant Glen Barry, who had a charter boat company in Gibson’s Landing, B.C. Olivier was working at Barry’s firm.
In Quebec Superior Court yesterday, retired RCMP Cpl. Barry Bennett acknowledged that Barry was motivated by money and would get paid only if he connected the police to targets.
In July 1987, Bennett testified, he borrowed one of Barry’s boats to go fishing with his brother and fired a few rounds from his service revolver into the Georgia Strait for target practice.
The next day, Bennett said, he returned the boat to Barry, but without his brother because the waters were too rough for him to travel. Two shell casings were in the boat, as was fish blood, although Bennett claimed yesterday he would have cleaned the boat before returning it.
Olivier contends the message was clear: If he didn’t co-operate and import heroin, he’d end up dead, like the boat passenger.
On Feb. 11, 1989, Olivier flew to Bangkok and made contact with a local taxi driver. The cabbie agreed to supply heroin to Olivier’s contacts, who were undercover RCMP police officers.
As the deal was being made between the undercover agents and the supplier, Thai police arrived. An undercover Canadian officer, RCMP Cpl. Derek Flanagan, was shot and killed.
Olivier was arrested and charged on several drug counts and with the murder of Flanagan. All charges carried the death penalty in Thailand.
The murder charge was dropped in April 1989, and Olivier escaped the death penalty
only by pleading guilty to the other charges. He spent 81/2 years in a Thai prison before being transferred to a Quebec jail. He’s now on parole until 2029.
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