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A BC judge has ruled that the RCMP conducted a warrantless search when an officer posed as a mail carrier and delivered a package to a convicted West Kelowna drug dealer.

The judge's move will likely see some of the evidence against Thomas Troy Gill tossed after he was charged with smuggling goods into Canada.

Justice Edlyn Laurie ruled that Gill had a "reasonable expectation of privacy in his doorway" and police didn't have a search warrant for this purpose.

"Therefore it was not authorized by law and was unreasonable," the Justice said in a May 30 BC Supreme Court decision

The case dates back to January 2022 when the Canadian Border Services Agency intercepted a parcel addressed to Dill which contained two firearm silencers shipped from China.

The Kelowna RCMP came up with a plan to swap out the firearm silencers for dummies and use an undercover cop to deliver the package dressed as a mail carrier.

Once Dill opened the package an alarm would go off and the product would be covered in a dye.

The decision said on Jan. 19, 2022, an undercover RCMP police officer went to Dill's Elliot Road apartment and rang his unit. The undercover cop then went up to the apartment where Dill opened the door and took the package.

Soon after, the alarm in the package went off and police entered the apartment.

Dill was later charged with smuggling goods into Canada, possessing an unauthorized firearm and five counts of drug trafficking.

The case is currently at trial in Kelowna where Dill's lawyer, Nelson Selamaj, argued the Kelowna RCMP had breached his client's Charter Rights.

Selamaj was unsuccessful on two points, but also argued the police's warrant didn't include delivering the parcel.

Kelowna RCMP had obtained a search warrant to replace the silencers with a dummy package. Police also had a warrant to enter Dill's apartment as soon as the alarm in the package went off.

However, police didn't have a warrant to deliver the package.

The Crown argued the general warrant allowing the RCMP to intercept the package from Canada Post also allowed them to deliver it.

However, Justice Laurie ruled the warrant did not contain a term that allowed the delivery of the parcel.

"The conduct of the (undercover officer) exceeded the scope of the implied licence to knock," the Justice ruled, saying that Dill had had his Charter Rights breached.

It's unclear where this leaves the Crown and what repercussions it will have as some evidence is likely to be thrown out.

Dill's trial resumed June 5.

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