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A runaway former Victorian detective accused of armed robbery and
drug trafficking while working for the National Crime Authority was
extradited from Cambodia yesterday.
James Anthony McCabe was flown back to Australia under guard
despite the absence of a formal extradition treaty between the two
countries.
Mr McCabe, 38, faces charges in New South Wales, but has also
been linked to drug trafficking allegations in Victoria.
He was accused of selling heroin to a police informer during the
trial last year of Ian Ferguson, a jailed former member of the
Victoria Police drug squad.
The first allegations against Mr McCabe emerged in 2004 while he
was in Cambodia and about to be presented with a medal for helping
to fight that country's drug war.
But by this month Cambodia decided to order him to leave the
country after considering information provided to Cambodia's Prime
Minister by the NSW Police Integrity Commission.
He was arrested in Phnom Penh a week ago.
Mr McCabe is believed to have a wife and child in Cambodia,
where he has been working in the security industry.
Two PIC investigators went to Phnom Penh this week to escort Mr
McCabe to Australia.
He was remanded in custody in Sydney yesterday and is due to
apply for bail next week.
Mr McCabe resigned from the Victoria Police as a senior
detective in 2004 after 15 years' service.
He was seconded to the NCA and the Australian Crime Commission
between 1999 and 2003.
Mr McCabe was implicated during PIC hearings by a NSW detective
who admitted stealing ecstasy, amphetamines and cannabis during
phony arrests of drug dealers.
Det-Sgt Samuel John Foster, who since pleaded guilty to criminal
charges and is awaiting sentencing, told the commission that NCA
and ACC cars were used in the rip-offs, and on one occasion an NCA
firearm was used.
Mr McCabe admitted during one PIC hearing he had been involved
in a $36,000 drug rip-off while working for the NCA.
But he denied holding a gun to a drug dealer's head while
pretending to arrest him in another rip-off where 1kg of
amphetamines worth $120,000 was stolen.
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