Alleged revenue agency leak may have given personal info to gangs
Last Updated: Thursday, February 26, 2009 | 8:52 AM PT
CBC News
An alleged leak within the Canada Revenue Agency may have allowed rivals of B.C’s United Nations Gang to acquire confidential information to target its members, police say.
Mike Ryan, a retired inspector with the Organized Crime Agency of B.C., told CBC News it's not known whether the source of the leak was an outsider hacking into the tax agency's database or an insider working for gangs.
Ryan said he learned of the alleged leak through the Abbotsford Police Department in late 2007 — just before members of the United Nations gang, alleged to be one of the West Coast's most powerful criminal organizations, started to be targeted in a wave of violence that has peaked in recent weeks.
Canada Revenue Agency files contain personal tax information about Canadians including home and work addresses.
Ryan said he had to warn the Canada Revenue Agency its employees might be in danger, when serving documents on UN Gang members.
The UN Gang, angry over alleged leaks of confidential information on its members, has filed actions in the Federal Court of Canada against the minister of national revenue.
That case is expected to wrap up in April.
None of the allegations has been proven in court.
With files from the Canadian PressShare Tools
Latest British Columbia News Headlines
- New Westminster man saves woman from house fire
- A New Westminster, B.C., man is being called a hero after rescuing a woman from the balcony of a burning home early Sunday morning. more »
- Adults-only trade show cancelled in B.C. Bible belt
- Organizers of an adults-only trade show say they're cancelling a three-day event that was scheduled to take place in British Columbia's Bible belt. more »
- Canada fails to advance to Davis Cup quarters
- Canada failed to advance to the Davis Cup quarter-finals Sunday as France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat surprise substitute Frank Dancevic in straight sets in Vancouver. more »
- B.C. vets call for ban on dog docking, cropping
- B.C. veterinarians are calling on the province to ban the docking and cropping of dogs' tails and ears, saying it causes unnecessary pain. more »
Top News Headlines
- Greece passes new austerity deal amid rioting
- Greek lawmakers have approved harsh new austerity measures demanded by bailout creditors to save the debt-crippled nation from bankruptcy, after riots in Athens and other cities left stores looted and burned and more than 120 people hurt. more »
- Quebec town 'heartbroken' after killing of woman, sisters
- A small Quebec town is in mourning Sunday after a Quebec man was charged with killing his nieces and his mother, who were found dead in their family home. more »
- Houston autopsy results withheld by police
- Whitney Houston was found in a hotel bathtub but it'll take weeks to determine precisely how she died, a Los Angeles coroner's official says. more »
- Musicians who died before their time
- The growing list of musicians who have died young. more »
- Former Stanley Park petting zoo goats feared slaughtered
- Adults-only trade show cancelled in B.C. Bible belt
- New Westminster man saves woman from house fire
- B.C. vets call for ban on dog docking, cropping
- Crane drops section of Port Mann bridge into B.C. river
- Langley man struck, killed by train
- RCMP request retraction over 'slanderous' article
- Pickton investigators defended by man who warned of killer
- Emailed rave rape pictures earn teen probation
