Kevin Wilson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 30/02) - Five months after a judge ordered their return, items seized during the raid on Lothar Ebke's home remain in a police evidence locker.

The Yellowknife bed and breakfast owner confirmed last week that only "10 percent" of his and partner Regina Pfeiffer's seized property has been returned. He was arrested and his home searched in May 2000 after he was accused of terrorist acts in Germany.

"It was like this. We went to the police station, they showed it to us, then said, 'we're keeping it'," said Ebke.

Police seized books, written materials, entire drawers full of papers, a computer, financial records, an academic thesis that Pfeiffer was working on, more than 4,000 slides, photographs, personal notes, and answering and fax machines.

Last September, Territorial Supreme Court Judge John Z. Vertes ordered that, "the things seized pursuant to the search warrant be returned to the person from whom they were seized, or their lawful owner."

Vertes based his ruling on the fact that the lead officer named in the search warrant, "failed to exercise that close control and supervision required...as the officer named in the warrant."

Courts generally recognize that the officer named as the lead officer in a search warrant must direct the search. In Ebke's case, the officer named in the search warrant arrested Ebke, then left the premises for several hours while the search was underway.

Cpl. Brian Glover, head of Federal Enforcement for RCMP "G" Division, declined to comment, saying the matter is before the courts.

Vertes' ruling did leave some wiggle room for police. While he ordered the seized items to be returned, he also stayed his ruling, "pending expiry of any appeal period or the disposition of any appeal proceedings if there is an appeal."

"G" Division spokesperson Sgt. Phil Johnson said police did not see, "a benefit to us" in commenting further.