Meng Wanzhou case: arresting Huawei exec on plane would have been too risky, Canadian officer tells court
- Meng’s lawyers have framed the decision to delay detention until after disembarkation as part of a covert operation to gather evidence
- But arresting someone on a plane should be avoided if possible for safety reasons, officer testifies
Testifying in the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Vancouver on Friday, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sergeant Ross Lundie said there were “well-documented” risks involved with arresting someone in the confines of a plane.
Meng was arrested on December 1, 2018, but only after she had exited the Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong and had been questioned for almost three hours by border officers.
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Canada judge releases video of Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou being searched at airport before arrest
Meng’s lawyers have presented the decision to delay the arrest until after the inspection – during which she was questioned and her electronic devices seized – as a covert evidence-gathering exercise orchestrated by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation in violation of Meng’s rights. They say the decision also flouted the arrest warrant’s directive that Meng should be arrested “immediately”.
The US extradition request should be thrown out as a result, they say.
On Friday, Meng’s lawyer, Richard Peck, asked Lundie about his advice to the arresting officer, Constable Winston Yep, and his partner, Constable Gurvinder Dhaliwal, that Meng should only be arrested on the plane if there was “a safety or security issue” that made it necessary.