Quote:Specifics, including the alleged drug trafficker's identity, his hometown and even the narcotic he is accused of smuggling from the U.S. into Canada are redacted in the public version of the ruling.

The "experienced" DEA special agent at the centre of the case is referred to only as "Jane Doe."

According to the judge's decision, the American agent showed up at the man's door with two Canadian detectives who were also operating outside of their jurisdiction. The man, identified in the court documents as "named person," said he was later summoned to meet with U.S. investigators three times.

He ultimately signed an agreement to help in their probe focused on another unnamed target.

As part of that investigation, the DEA directed the Canadian to set up a deal to move an unspecified amount of cash for the target. Agents sent the man abroad to take part in the scheme and by the time he returned home, "he felt that his life was in jeopardy," the judge's decision says.

Murray said the plan amounted to a money-laundering conspiracy and that "the DEA was leading him into criminal conduct" without Canadian oversight or authorization.

"The DEA was aware of the protocols but chose to operate in Canada behind the back of the RCMP," the judge wrote. She said the DEA provided the Mounties with misleading information about the investigation — and it only did so months after pressuring the Canadian to co-operate.

"The DEA committed a deliberate, calculated and ongoing infringement of [named person]'s constitutional rights which was unlawful and conducted in violation of Canadian sovereignty," Murray wrote.

Foreign investigators cannot act as police in Canada. They're required to follow a series of guidelines while operating here, including having Canadian law enforcement supervise their operations.

Despite any deal the man may have had with the DEA, U.S. prosecutors still sought his extradition to stand trial. At the man's request, the B.C. judge ordered those proceedings to be halted.

"The public would be outraged by the conduct of the DEA in this case," Murray wrote.

"While there is a high public interest in seeing trafficking and exporting charges prosecuted, the behaviour of the DEA in this case is so shocking and flagrant that the justice system must distance itself from it. To allow the proceedings to continue would be to condone it."

Murray underlined it's not the first time a Canadian's case has been tossed due to the DEA's conduct. She pointed to a similar decision from a B.C. judge in 2002, after U.S. agents continued undercover work in Canada even though the RCMP had refused to approve the operations.