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Tea-tasting sting led to B.C. murder conviction, charges of rights violations

Police secretly collected DNA from Kurdish community members in bid to find teen’s killer

Undercover police investigating the murder of a 13-year-old girl in British Columbia disguised themselves as tea marketers to secretly collect the DNA of about 150 Kurdish community members, court recordings reveal.

Homicide officers said the DNA was obtained at a 2018 Kurdish New Year celebration in Burnaby, where police handed out free tea samples in numbered cups that were later swabbed for DNA in a sting that identified a brother of the suspect.

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