Opposition Leader Michael Dunkley was never a suspect in the $3 million drugs conspiracy which led to two of his employees being jailed for ten years, a former senior Police officer told The Royal Gazette yesterday.

And Bermuda Police Service issued a statement last night — in response to a video posted on the YouTube internet site about the 2003 conspiracy — stating that the case was fully investigated, dealt with in court and was "officially closed".

The Police source told this newspaper that narcotics chief Larry Smith — the retired superintendent who makes allegations against the United Bermuda Party Leader in the ten-minute YouTube video — would have been duty bound to tell his superiors if he believed that Mr. Dunkley was involved but never did.

The retired high-ranking officer, who asked not to be named, said: "Dunkley was not considered a suspect. Larry Smith told me just the opposite. He told me that Dunkley was not involved. This was very early on in the investigation.

"Not only was he not considered a suspect, there was no evidence to implicate him in that conspiracy or any conspiracy."

In the video, Mr. Smith, head of Bermuda Police Service's narcotics department from 1999 to 2006, questions whether Mr. Dunkley had anything to do with an importation of marijuana in a Dunkley's Dairy container which led to Michael Madeiros and Steven Flood being jailed for ten years in April 2005.

He claims that when visiting Mr. Dunkley at his office to update him on the investigation, a well-known drug dealer showed up. Mr. Smith said when he related this to the chief investigator in the case, the inspector told him: "Well Chief, we need to arrest Dunkley on suspicion of conspiracy."

Mr. Smith says in the video: "I made a decision as the commanding officer: 'no, no, we'll leave Dunkley for now. Let's just continue the investigation and we'll investigate around Mike Dunkley'."

He then implies the inquiry was stifled by Police Commissioner Jonathan Smith and his successor George Jackson.

A request for an interview with Larry Smith to discuss his claims resulted in this e-mailed response last night: "Hello, I don't think there is very much more that I need to discuss on this matter."

This newspaper then e-mailed a long list of questions to him and he replied: "What part of my previous message to you (see below) that you don't understand (sic)."

The anonymous ex-officer who spoke to this newspaper yesterday said the former narcotics boss, now thought to live in Florida, never once mentioned Michael Dunkley's name during meetings held every two weeks on serious crime and drugs conspiracies for all the commanders in the Police service.

"You have to ask yourself, if the conspiracy happened in 2003 and Larry Smith retired in 2006, why did Michael Dunkley's name never come up in those meetings? Here is a man, ten days before an election, almost two years after he left the Police, and all of a sudden he speaks out. It smacks of all sorts of things."

The source added that Mr. Dunkley, CEO of Dunkley's Dairy, cooperated fully with detectives and allowed his premises to be used for surveillance to enable the conspirators to be caught.

Mr. Dunkley, who was a key prosecution witness at the Supreme Court trial of Madeiros and Flood, said yesterday: "It hurts to the core that people want to make these allegations but I understand it's politics. This is very difficult personally and on my family.

"But if they want to open up another investigation, that's fine with me. I'm not perfect but I don't have anything to hide on these type of matters."

Progressive Labour Party chairman David Burt did not answer questions yesterday about whether his party had any involvement in the video or whether it approved of it being posted online.

Bermuda Police Service's statement said: "Contrary to a published video feed that is presently appearing on the website YouTube by ex-superintendent Larry Smith, the matters that he is referring to in the case of the Crown vs. Flood and Madeiros were fully investigated and adjudicated in a court of law and, as far as the Bermuda Police Service is concerned, that matter is officially closed."

* Did you know who made and posted the Larry Smith video on YouTube? Call Sam Strangeways on 278-0155 or email sstrangeways[AT]royalgazette.bm.