HYTHE — Police seeking evidence in half a dozen pipeline bombings have concluded their search of an Alberta anti-oilpatch activist’s property.
RCMP Insp. Tim Shields said search crews — which included dogs, a helicopter and dozens of officers — were leaving Wiebo Ludwig’s communal farm on Monday and barriers were being taken down.
“All of the areas that we have designated that were requiring searching have now been fully and thoroughly searched,” said Shields.
“A number of items have been seized, which will be submitted for forensic assessment to determine their evidentiary value. Investigators will continue to have discussions with B.C. Crown counsel, who are responsible for the charge approval process for this investigation.”
He said he didn’t know when — or if — there would be arrests stemming from the evidence. He stressed the investigation would continue.
“We’re just going to have to wait and see.”
The bombings targeted pipelines belonging to Calgary-based energy company EnCana near the British Columbia communities of Dawson Creek and Tomslake, just over the provincial boundary from Ludwig’s Trickle Creek farm in northwestern Alberta.
Ludwig was arrested Friday when the search began and was told he would be facing a count of extortion. But he was released after 24 hours without being charged.
“They told me I was under arrest for attempting to extort EnCana,” he told CTV on Monday. “I said, ’My goodness. I had no idea. It hasn’t even entered my mind. Perhaps you got into my subconscious mind. What is that all about?’
“And then they tried to explain to me it wasn’t a matter of money. It was a matter of forcing someone to do something with threat or violence, whatever, that you want them to do.”
Shields, who a day earlier said the arrest was a matter of public safety, said police believe they did the right thing, although there was not enough evidence at that point to lay charges.
“We are confident after reviewing all the information that is in our possession that we arrested the right person for the right reasons and at the right time.”
Ludwig said he could only speculate on exactly what that meant.
“We’re 50 people there (on the farm) and whether something has been hidden by my sons, or something, it’s possible. I don’t know what they’ve got. I am personally not aware of anything that could be indicting. That’s about it.”
Neil MacKenzie, spokesman for the B.C. Criminal Justice Branch, said his department hadn’t yet seen any of the new evidence.
“We have not been provided any material yet in relation to the search or the arrest last week,” he said from Vancouver. “At such time that the police forward us any material in connection with the ongoing investigation, we’ll review it and things will progress from that point.”
Ludwig said he didn’t know what had been handed over to the Crown by the police, but he added that the warrant indicated officers were primarily looking for “innocuous” items such as pens, stamps, papers and files, but also for explosives.
“They’re pretty ubiquitous items,” added Ludwig’s Edmonton lawyer, Paul Moreau. “You can find them in any house you want to search.”
Ludwig’s status is now the same as it was before his arrest, Moreau said.
“For the time being, he’s just like everybody else. According to the Constitution, he’s an innocent man.”
Ludwig was convicted of bombing sour gas wells in Alberta about a decade ago and served two-thirds of a 28-month sentence. He has long argued that oil and gas development near his land has harmed the health of his family and livestock.
Dozens of RCMP officers swept onto the communal farm Friday and began combing through the many homes and outbuildings on the 300-hectare property.
Ludwig, meanwhile, was arrested about 45 minutes away in Grande Prairie, where he had gone under the impression he was meeting the RCMP at a hotel to help with the case. The former Christian Reformed Church pastor had released an open letter to the bomber through the media last fall pleading for calm.
He said he was interrogated for 10 hours, but didn’t participate after the first five hours. An investigator involved in the Robert Pickton multiple murder investigation in B.C. was even brought in for the last 1 1/2 hours before Ludwig was released, he said.
— By Sylvia Strojek in Edmonton