In the early morning of Sept. 7, 2012, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents and local police descended on an upscale apartment complex in North Hollywood.
They detained two men, seized 15 kilograms of cocaine and $2.5 million — it's unclear whether the amount was in U.S. or Canadian — in cash, and ignited a cross-border controversy over how Canadian police handled millions of dollars in illicit cash.
The dispute threatens police co-operation between Canada and the U.S., as a number of sources affiliated with U.S. law enforcement accuse Canadian police of secretly operating an agent on U.S. soil without permission.
One of the arrested men, who was carrying the money, was a 27-year-old car dealership employee from Vancouver. The U.S.-linked sources say he had worked as a Canadian police agent, fraternizing with importers of cocaine and exporters of marijuana.
Believing he was working as a Canadian police agent, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration reluctantly allowed him to return to Vancouver without charge. Shortly after the seizure, the DEA office at the U.S Embassy in Ottawa received a call from Insp. Michel Forget of the Sûreté du Québec, a provincial police force, demanding to know the details of the L.A. arrest, and asking for the $2.5 million back.
