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Other wiretap authorizations, Brown said, included significant errors such as an erroneous date and an unsigned affidavit; another was wrongly issued for 60 days instead of two days, and still another failed to provide any grounds for intercepting communications.

Taken together, he said, “It’s negligence that gets closer and closer to gross negligence as things proceed.”

Federal prosecutor Croft Michaelson is expected to argue that the mistakes largely amount to “technical errors.”

Michaelson, however, has already conceded that the government cannot introduce evidence from a series of unauthorized wiretaps that the RCMP conducted at the outset of its operation to lure Ader to Canada.

For reasons that remain unclear, the undercover RCMP team decided to contact Ader before it had a court order in place to intercept and record the phone conversations, even though it knew such an order was required. The RCMP recorded calls between June 24 and July 9, 2010, without the court order in place. None of those recordings will be allowed into evidence.

Trevor Brown argued that the RCMP’s conduct — and its failure to disclose the unauthorized wiretaps to subsequent judges — has “a cascading effect,” and pollutes evidence collected under the authority of later court orders.

The motion will continue to be argued in court Wednesday.

A freelance journalist, Lindhout was abducted with Brennan in August 2008 while on a two-week research trip to Somalia. She was beaten, tortured and sexually assaulted during 15 months of captivity which she detailed in her bestselling memoir, A House in the Sky. The two families eventually paid $600,000 in ransom to secure the pair’s release, which was managed by a private security company, AKE, based in London.

The kidnappers had originally demanded $1.5 million for Lindhout, and before she was released, she was forced to sign a contract pledging to send more money after she returned home.

Court heard this week that “Adam” contacted Lindhout’s mother in January 2010 in an effort to speak to Lindhout. That phone call initiated the RCMP undercover operation that would lead to Ader’s arrest.

The RCMP has characterized Ader as “one of the main negotiators” for the extremist group that held Lindhout.

aduffy@postmedia.com