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A Hamilton cop ran a $20,000-a-month protection scheme where he provided drug dealers inside police information that “made them better, more effective drug traffickers,” a jury heard Monday.

In his opening to the jury, Crown attorney John Pollard alleged that Det.-Const. Craig Ruthowsky gave Mr. X — a key Crown witness and former mid-level cocaine dealer — “time and locations of pending search warrants, the identity of confidential informants and covert investigative techniques” used by cops. Mr. X’s identity is covered by a publication ban.

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Ruthowsky’s actions could have jeopardized police officers’ lives in covert operations, said Pollard.

Ruthowsky, a member of Hamilton’s guns and gangs unit, was caught in a Toronto Police operation known as “Project Pharoah,” which targeted west-end gun and drug traffickers in 2015, said Pollard.

Ruthowsky, 44, a 16-year-veteran of the Hamilton force, has pleaded not guilty to bribery of a cop to protect someone intending to commit a crime, attempting to obstruct justice, breach of trust, trafficking cocaine and conspiring to traffic marijuana. The alleged offences occurred between Aug. 18, 2011 and June 4, 2015.