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Western Wind: A drug bust gone bust
By Hempology | July 9, 2002
From the PENINSULA DAILY NEWS (WA), June 17th, 2002
VICTORIA, British Columbia – Some 16 months after U.S. Customs agents
seized more than 2 1/2 tons of cocaine from a Canadian fishing boat in the
Strait of Juan de Fuca, no charges have been filed.
It’s described as the largest drug bust in Pacific Northwest history, but
Canadian and U.S. officials are skeptical anyone tied to the shipment will be
prosecuted, The Seattle Times reported Sunday.
“Case is a travesty”
“This case is a travesty,” said Rodney Tureaud, special agent in charge of the
U.S. Customs Service in Seattle. “Some inner-city kid goes to prison for 15
years over a few grams of crack while these jokers have 5,000 pounds of cocaine
and are sleeping in their own beds.”
The five-member crew of the fishing trawler Western Wind was lead by
Capt. Philip John Stirling, 55, a convicted drug drealer and sometime police
informant from Victoria.
When the U.S. Coast Guard boarded the boat off Cape Alave on Feb. 21, 2001, U.S.
authorities didn’t know Stirling had been an informant for the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police. That and other complications led American authorities to abandon
the case and release the boat’s crew to Canada.
All were released after a few days in British Columbia.
Stirling had agreed to serve as an RCMP informant – for witness protection and a $1
million payment – while brokering a cocaine deal between a British Columbia chapter
of the Hells Angels biker gang and a Colombian cartel.
At the time, he was facing criminal charges from a 1999 arrest for investigation
of possessing 500 pounds of marijuana.
Stirling bought the Western Wind for $100,000 and began modifying the
boat’s bow fuel tanks to make room for the cocaine. He was to pilot the
vessel to Colombia to pick up the drugs, then return to Victoria to meet the
buyers.
Investigators hoped to use the threat of criminal prosecution against the buyers
to lead them to financiers who had put up as much as $40 million to buy drugs worth
six or seven times that on the streets.
Canadian effort unravels
However, as Canadian agents proceeded with their investigation, Stirling’s
proposed $1 million payout was rejected unexpectedly by then-Inspector Richard
Barszczewski, who was in charge of the RCMP’s Drug Enforcement Branch in
British Columbia.
Barszczewski, now a super-intendent in charge of RCMP support services in
British Columbia, referred all questions about his rejection to Carl Busson,
chief of the Drug Enforcement Branch.
“There were reasons that decisions were made,” said Busson, though he
declined to elaborate. “Hindsight is always 20-20.”
After Stirling learned his payment had been rejected, he told RCMP that he
would take his crew fishing for tuna in the Pacific.
However, he went ahead with the drug exchange, contending later that he had received
a threatening e-mail on his ship’s computer.
Captain claims death threats
“They said they’d kill my family,” Stirling said, though he wouldnt say who sent
the message, The Times reported.
Stirling took the drugs on board in bags marked “azucar” – sugar – off the coast
of Colombia. After the drugs were stored, the trawler fished its way north,
filling the freezer with tuna as a cover, according to documents filed in U.S.
District Court in Seattle.
Stirling maintains he was going to turn the drugs over to police as soon as he
made port.
“I was going to pull into Victoria harbor and call the RCMP,” he said. “I didn’t
want anything to do with this.”
Motives Questioned
Investigators now question why stirling didn’t email for help if he felt threatened.
In early February 2001, RCMP received a report that Stirling had taken the cocaine
on board after all. They scrambled to find the Western Wind, calling U.S.
Customs and the U.S. Coast Guard for help.
On Feb. 21, the boat was sighted off the Washington coast. Three U.S. Coast Guard
cutters closed in, and U.S. agents were soon joined by the RCMP.
Stirling at first told the agents he had only fish on board, but they found
the cocaine after about two hours.
Agents asked Stirling to e-mail the buyers, setting a new meeting place.
But when their proposed new witness protection plan for Stirling also was rejected
by the Canadian inspector, Stirling refused to cooperate.
U.S., Canada agencies spar
U.S. agents proposed taking over the delivery of the drugs, using Drug Enforcement
Agency resources.
However, Canadian authorities balked, citing a policy barring foreign law-enforcement
officers from entering Canada while armed.
The U.S. Customs agents then seized the Western Wind and its cargo of
5,500 pounds of cocaine. The Immigration and Naturalization Service detained
the crew, and the boat was escorted to Port Angeles.
Eventually, U.S. prosecutors decided to destroy the drugs, keep the boat and let
Canada handle any prosecutions. Previous federal court rulings cast doubt on U.S.
prosecutors’ ability to make changes stick, since there was no evidence the drugs
would have found their way to the United States.
Stirling and his crew were released in British Columbia a week after the bust.
Protected status remains
Stirling’s status as a one-time informant affords him the protection of the
Canadian legal system, The Times reported.
Unlike in the United States, informant status cannot be revoked in Canada, and
the Canadian government will take no action that could identify Stirling as an
informant.
Canadian officials declined to answer specific questions about the investigation
of the crew or whether any charges would be filed in the case, citing privacy rules
on open investigations, The Times reported.
Stirling was fighting in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to reclaim his boat until
late last month.
He claimed that the Western Wind was illegitimately seized when he
was acting for the Canadian government “in furtherance of legitimate law enforcement
goals.”
Stirling’s attorney, Rick Troberman, said his client dropped the claim because he
didn’t want to invite the danger that might come from unspecified parties with
publicity.
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