Five Hundred for a Name

A former federal drug agent discussed with a contact a plan to fly a planeload of marijuana in from Mexico. He said that for $500 a name he could, through an inside source, get agency reports showing whether anyone in the venture was a government informant. The source was a serving agent, who pulled the four requested reports on his office computer terminal. The contact was himself an informant, and the agency traced the terminal that had looked up those names. Both were charged with selling government property. The defence: information is not property.