Unsealed court documents reveal Alberta RCMP resorted to unauthorized wiretaps and the use of undercover agents to gather evidence during the Coutts border blockade in February. .Four documents were ordered unsealed by a provincial court judge. Those documents were used by law enforcement to obtain warrants before and after a raid that found a cache of weapons near the protest site. Four men were charged with conspiracy to commit murder as it was alleged they were looking to kill police officers. .According to the documents, RCMP used wiretaps without judicial authorization, reported The Globe and Mail after applying to the courts for the documents with order media outlets. .Although rare, it is legal for law enforcement under Section 184.4 of the Criminal Code to use such wiretaps in urgent circumstances when lives are at risk. .The documents reveal some of the evidence RCMP gathered at Coutts including the cache of 15 guns, ammunition, and body-armour vests. RCMP investigators at the time, also alleged some of the protesters were plotting to kill law enforcement officers at the blockade and requested further search warrants. .According to dates included in the documents, the first request by RCMP for an information to obtain (ITO) search warrant was on February 13, when RCMP raided a mobile home near the protest site in Coutts and seized a cache of firearms from a small organized group within the larger Coutts protest. .READ MORE: UPDATED: Alberta RCMP seize weapons at Coutts border blockade; Kenney says enforcement to ramp up.The next day, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act and three more warrants were requested by RCMP in the days following the initial raid. .“This investigation has relied on emergency intercepts of private communications,” reads one of the ITOs police asked to be sealed at the time due to their ongoing investigation. .“The situation at the Coutts blockade is still ongoing and police may need to rely on emergency intercepts to protect against imminent harm during the remainder of this incident.”.An ITO dated February 14 titled "Imminent Harm Interception of Private Communications" includes three pages of redacted information. Other ITOs dated February 17 and 19 include the same title and also have pages of redacted information..Four men — Anthony Olienick, Chris Carbert, Jerry Morin, and Christopher Lysak have all been charged with conspiracy to commit murder, have been denied bail, and are scheduled for a combined trial in June 2023. The prosecution has made it clear it will use the wiretap evidence in court. .The unsealed documents also revealed evidence from at least three female undercover operatives that infiltrated the Coutts protest location and interacted with protesters. RCMP learned Olienick was acting as security for the protesters at the blockade and told one undercover agent he was staying in a trailer in Coutts and had access to weapons. RCMP said Olienick showed an operative live surveillance feeds of police and said "there was a live feed on all of the checkpoints to monitor police activities." .The documents also reveal Olienick had a "delivery" coming and believed using the female undercover operatives to carry the bags would throw off suspicion from police. The document said Carbert asked Olienick if he preferred to use "guitar cases like they usually did" but Olienick opted for a hockey bag because the "package was too big." .The undercover officers said they believed Morin "was delivering a hockey bag with guns." Investigators believe the men charged had access to more weapons than were seized in the raid which led to a search of Morin's property near Olds, AB, and Olienick's home in the Municipal District of Willow Creek. .RCMP believe Olienick, Morin and Carbert were in association with each other prior to Coutts. .“Based on the totality of the circumstances, I believed on reasonable grounds Olienick, Carbert and Morin were part of a sub-group with loose ties to [REDACTED] and were arming themselves for a standoff against police,” RCMP Const. Trevor Checkley wrote in documents dated Feb. 14, 17, and 19..It is unclear at this time whose communications were being monitored by the wiretaps..The Western Standard sought comment from RCMP but did not hear back in time for publishing. .The Coutts border blockade began in late January in support of the truckers Freedom Convoy that descended on Ottawa around the same time. .READ MORE: Alberta farmers plan Coutts blockade Saturday.Farmers, truckers, and protesters gathered in Coutts for just over two weeks in protest of COVID-19 lockdown measures and mandatory vaccination policies. .After the late-night police raid at Coutts on February 13 that located the cache of firearms, and the invocation of the Emergencies Act the next day, protesters called it quits. Protester Jory Evans took to Facebook with an announcement on behalf of blockade organizers and said the group had decided to stay the night and end the blockade on February 15..READ MORE: UPDATED WATCH: Coutts blockade protesters call it quits.Evans said protesters felt the RCMP hadn't been playing fair and with the Emergencies Act, he feels things will become “unhinged” and the truckers have no chance to win..“We didn’t sign up to come here and start a war. The intention was to be peaceful,” said Evans.
