Kerr implicated in drug scandal
http://www.abc.net.au/sport/content/200703/s1880292.htm
West Coast midfielder Daniel Kerr has become the second high-profile Eagles player this week to be implicated in dealings with illicit drugs, after Ben Cousins' father Bryan last night publicly admitted his son had a substance abuse problem.
Kerr is one of three sportsmen whose conversations with convicted drug dealer Shane Waters were recorded by police phone taps nearly four years ago.
A police operation called Remuda tapped the phone calls of drug trafficker Waters.
Among the hundreds of hours of tapes, police heard the voices of Kerr, former Eagles and current Kangaroos player Aaron Edwards, and basketballer James Harvey.
The tapes, obtained by the ABC, suggest Kerr had bought Ketamine, a powerful horse sedative also referred to as 'Special K', from the dealer the night after an away game in August 2003.
Kerr was recorded discussing his use of the drug which he said turned everything "weird" and made him forget where he was.
"I'm just recovering, I just feel good today, I was struggling the other day, it turned all pear-shaped, swear to God, couldn't even sleep it was that bad," Kerr was recorded as saying.
Cousins is referred to in the phone taps but is not heard speaking directly to the dealer.
Harvey is heard talking about abusing ecstasy.
"One flipper every hour on the hour for 10 hours," Harvey said.
Meanwhile, AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou maintains he knows nothing about the phone taps, despite claims from former AFL investigator Rick Lewis who says he mentioned rumours of the taps to Demetriou (then the league's operation boss) several years ago.
The West Coast Eagles concede they knew about the phone taps years ago but the players denied any wrongdoing.
"We had some people ring me anonymously, but they wouldn't say who they were," Eagles coach John Worsfold said on The Footy Show last night.
Waters was jailed last year for trafficking drugs to an undercover policeman, after an arrest arising from operation Remuda.
Victorian police says they did not question the players because the operation was aimed at convicting major drug traffickers.
Last month Kerr was fined $10,000 by the club after being convicted of assaulting a Perth taxi driver.
Related Audio:
AFL player Kerr implicated in drugs deal
The ABC has obtained copies of hundreds of hours of police phone taps that implicate West Coast Eagles midfielder Daniel Kerr in a drugs deal. [ RealMedia 28k+ ]
