Drug Smuggler Stands Up for his Rights

VANCOUVER, B.C. - A Canadian gang leader serving a 30-year sentence in the United States for drug smuggling claims Canadian officials violated his constitutional privacy rights before he was arrested at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

Clay Roueche claims British Columbia's attorney general and the Vancouver and Abbotsford Police Departments unlawfully shared wiretaps and other private information with U.S. and Mexican officials to facilitate his arrest in the United States.

Roueche was indicted by a grand jury in October 2007. He claims Canadian officials sought his arrest in the United States without going through an extradition process.

He claims Canadian police agencies illegally shared his private information with journalists and with Mexican officials, who denied him entry into the country when he tried to travel there in May 2008.

Roueche claims Canadian officials informed "U.S. authorities of Mr. Roueche's plans to travel to Mexico for the purpose of enabling U.S. authorities to request that Mexican authorities detain the plaintiff upon his arrival in Mexico, deny the plaintiff entry into Mexico, and ensure that the plaintiff board a plane which would land in the U.S."

Roueche says he was denied entry into Mexico and was sent home on a plane to Vancouver, but the plane stopped in Dallas, where he was arrested.

"As a result of the unlawful acts of the defendants, and its agents, the plaintiff suffered loss and damage, including financial loss, emotional and mental distress, and breaches of his civil rights and liberties," the complaint states.

Roueche seeks punitive damages for misfeasance in public office and other charges.

He is represented in B.C. Supreme Court by Martin Peters.

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