An Alberta Mountie has been charged with violating national security

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An Alberta RCMP officer has been charged with a national security breach for aiding a foreign actor.

On Tuesday, Mounties Const. Eli Ndatuje, 36, was charged with three counts of sharing “non-top secret” information obtained from the force's records system.

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The court alleges that he did it to benefit the Republic of Rwanda in Africa and that the alleged crimes date back to April 2022.

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“Upon learning of the security breach, the RCMP took steps to monitor, minimize and manage any further unauthorized disclosures and to ensure public safety during the investigation,” the RCMP said in a statement.

“The RCMP takes threats to the safety of Canadians very seriously and would like to assure everyone that our top priority is always the safety and protection of the public.”

Mounties said they are using all possible means to fight foreign interference in the country's sovereignty.

“The RCMP is open to any type of intervention, whether internal or external, and this is a good example of the efforts being made,” they said.

Ndatuje has been charged with breach of trust, breach of trust in relation to protected information under the Information Security Act and unauthorized use of a computer.

He will appear in court in Red Deer on March 11.

Ndatuje He appeared in justice of the peace on Feb. 10 and was released on conditions that he appear today in Airdrie to be fingerprinted, according to court records.

They also say he must surrender his passport to the RCMP, remain in Alberta and live at his address in Chestermere.

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RCMP said they are not releasing any further details on the case as the investigation is ongoing.

He was charged with breach of trust under the Security Information Act, accusing him of “knowingly and without lawful authority communicating or attempting to communicate protected information in the Canadian Police Information Center system to a foreign entity in order to communicate with the Republic of Rwanda.”

The Act defines protected information as “any information of a kind that the Government of Canada takes steps to protect.”

The maximum penalty for this charge is two years in prison.

A maximum of five years for criminal activity by a public official and a maximum of 10 years for unauthorized use of a computer.

Mariana Buonincontri of Calgary 911 last month58, including three were charged with crimes breach trusting and maliciously hacking computer data that has benefited organized crime.

Canada has faced accusations of foreign interference in its federal political sphere.

The National Inquiry launched hearings on the subject earlier this month foreign intervention year Canada, established After several reports of Chinese interference last year Canadaelection of

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The commission's public hearings focused on how to deal with classified and highly classified information in public. Additional hearings are scheduled for March to discuss the 2019 and 2021 interventions.

Alberta's resources, economy, and large ethnic communities make it “very attractiveaccording to the documents, aimed at foreign powers that want to show their influence Canadaagency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).

“Canada and Alberta in particular is very good attractive for a long time hostility foreign countries due to resource-rich and developed high-tech economies; geostrategic interest, particularly in relation to energy production and the Arctic; and the presence of a large diaspora community,” said the 2022 CSIS presentation notes.

He said diaspora communities from Russia, India and China have been targeted, while concerns about Iranian interference in Canada have also been raised.

— With files from Kevin Martin and Matthew Black

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X (Twitter) @BillKaufmannjrn

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