Police paid more than $300,000 for help in cocaine and weapons case, onetime drug dealer recalls

LONDON, ONT.-A crack dealer turned police agent said he was paid between $380,000 and $400,000 to help the Ontario Provincial Police in a project that included buying dozens of grenades and cocaine in a Canadian Tire parking lot in Ancaster.

The witness, who cannot be named, testified that he had a rough life before going to work for the OPP in an operation called Project Weaver, that targeted the sale of weapons and cocaine in late 2020 and early 2021.

What were you doing for a living back then?" asked Crown attorney Meredith Gardiner.

Selling crack cocaine," the agent replied.

Justice David Harris has banned reporting of any information leading to the identification of the police agent, who wore a business suit on the witness stand in a high-security courtroom on Monday.

The trial is by judge alone and there were more police officers than lawyers in the courtroom.

The undercover agent said that he started selling information to the police for $3,000 to $5,000, then graduated to working under police direction in a major project that targeted weapons and cocaine.

Gardiner asked why he began working for police.

To be honest with you, I've lived a pretty rough life," the agent replied. I was looking for a better path for myself and my family."

He said that his contract with police was adjusted when he became active in purchasing grenades in southwestern Ontario.

He said he was strip searched before and after deployments by police in the operation to make sure he wasn't packing anything illegal.

He was only allowed to use a police-issued cellphone, which he used to send encrypted text messages to members of the underworld.

He took screenshots of those messages, as they quickly vanished from his screen, he said.

All of these messages were done on disappearing apps," he said. If I was not screenshotting, I would have lost these messages."

His testimony came in the trial of Brandon Spaulding of Brantford, who was charged with possession of explosives, weapons trafficking, possession of a firearm, possession of a prohibited device and trafficking cocaine.

The undercover agent said that Spaulding was close to the man providing the cocaine and weapons. They both worked in a Brantford vape shop.

Mr. Spaulding was his right-hand man," the agent testified. In the world I live in, it doesn't get any closer than that."

Undercover OPP officers earlier described multiple purchases of guns and explosives and a grenade launcher in the Hamilton-Brantford area in late 2020 and early 2021.

The trial continues.