Red-faced RCMP officials have apologized to a Delta firearms firm and its owner after a headline-making 2008 raid supposedly to stop gun trafficking to gangsters.

On the eve of a lengthy civil trial over the incident Monday, the federal government settled out of court and, as part of the agreement, the force issued a rare exonerating letter over the bogus operation.

“I write on behalf of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to apologize for the search of the Silvercore Advanced Training Systems Inc. (“Silvercore”) premises in Delta, British Columbia, the seizure of Silvercore firearms inventory and records, the wrongful arrest of Travis Bader, and the prosecution of criminal charges against Travis Bader and Silvercore, which were ultimately stayed by Crown counsel,” Inspector Janis Gray said.

“I have conducted an exhaustive review of the police file and all of the evidence and circumstances surrounding the search, seizure, arrest and charges, and I have concluded that there is no evidence that either Silvercore or Travis Bader ever committed any criminal offences.”

Two Surrey RCMP Constables, David Clarke and Michael Everitt, provided with information by Canadian Firearms Centre officer Jeff Harrison, were behind the misguided operation.

The centre is responsible for administering the Firearms Act and the Firearms Registry, handling all licences and authorizations as well as the registration of restricted and prohibited firearms.

The police and firearms officer claimed they were only doing their duty in the investigation, reputedly triggered by an attempt by Bader’s father to register a restricted handgun.

“A letter of apology from RCMP brass confirming my innocence takes some of the sting out of the long delay, and we look forward to resuming our relationship with the RCMP and its members,” Bader said.

He started Silvercore in 2003 after roughly a decade of providing training in firearms and safety to police officers, sheriffs, corrections staff, Canadian Border Security guards and others.

As well as offering courses and training, his firm did gunsmithing and bought and sold firearms.

In the course of his business, much of it with law enforcement, Bader was authorized to possess, store and transfer restricted and prohibited firearms as well as regular guns.

Still, in May 2008, the RCMP raided the Delta company’s facility in the 7100-block of Vantage Way, alleging it was connected to guns that ended up in the hands of criminals.

According to police, decommissioned guns that could be easily reassembled and returned to working order were finding their way into the wrong hands.

Bader’s father, Gordon, is a retired 30-year veteran of the Vancouver Police Department and was an instrutor with Silvercore.

The former ERT sniper and past director of the anti-gun-control lobby, the Responsible Firearms Owners Coalition of B.C., Gordon Bader was also a firearms instructor at the Justice Institute of B.C., which trains police officers, and a gunsmith at the Vancouver Police Museum.

Both father and son said at the time the accusations were rubbish.

Still, Travis added the “confusion, the anger, the embarrassment” were nearly unbearable.

The Mounties painted the arrests and the raid, during which hundreds of guns were seized, as a response to what was then a murderous spree of gang violence around Metro Vancouver that had claimed 31 lives.

Still two years later, one of the officers involved, Clarke, was charged with dealing drugs, theft of police property, breach of trust, and possession of a number of illegal restricted weapons.

All criminal charges against Silvercore and Bader were stayed on March 19, 2010, by Crown attorney Todd Buziak.

“From my review of the entirety of the information provided to me, I can advise you that neither Travis Bader nor Silvercore Advanced Training Systems Ltd. were involved in any criminal wrongdoing,” Buziak wrote in a letter after the charges were dropped.

All Firearms Act charges were stayed in May 2010.

“I think that everyone will understand that a letter of apology from the RCMP is a precious commodity and the settlement sum is confidential,” Bader’s lawyer Jason Gratl said.

The force has not yet responded to a request for explanation.

imulgrew@postmedia.com