A secret gun compartment found in a Suburban used by the Bacon brothers appeared to have been built by a specialist whose work law enforcement had seen before, Surrey Provincial Court heard Tuesday.

The compartment, discovered by accident when a tracking device was being installed in the vehicle, had grind marks on it identical to those of another compartment that expert Paul Vogt brought to court.

Vogt, who works for the Canada Border Services Agency, demonstrated for Judge Jean Lytwyn how the locking device would make a buzzing sound like the one police said they heard as the tracking device was being installed.

He said the Suburban compartment is “indicative of compartments or 'traps' I have located in vehicles before.”

“The builders of these traps are very proud of what they do,” Vogt said.

Many have a particular style or “flare,” making it possible for him to detect when compartments have the same builders.

He said the compartments are hard-wired into the vehicles and generally only work when the car is turned on.

Vogt also showed Lytwyn how a fob is used to open such compartments.

The compartment in the Suburban in which four loaded handguns and five magazines were found had carpet installed to “stop any contraband from moving around,” Vogt said.

“It is a very sophisticated compartment professionally installed by someone who knows what they are doing,” he testified.

Jamie and Jarrod Bacon are facing 10 firearms charges stemming from the discovery of the secret compartment on April 14, 2007 – the day after Jamie was wounded in a shooting outside the family's Surrey rental home that brought police to investigate.

Defence lawyers for the Red Scorpion siblings are challenging the legality of the vehicle search as well as the police conduct in the Bacon house after the shooting and before the gun compartment was found.

The trial has heard that an officer searching the house accessed photos on a computer of what appeared to be secret gun compartments in vehicles. The lawyers have suggested police used the inappropriately obtained photos to hunt for the compartment, something police witnesses have denied.

Cpl. Rudy Exantus testified Tuesday that he was the cop who clicked on an icon on the desktop to find the photos.

He said there were six to eight in total and that they showed “vehicles being dismantled in pieces.”

“The central point of the focus of the photos was compartments attached to these frames,” Exantus said.

While he could not tell the make or model of the vehicle frames, they were definitely sedans, he said.

“I am 100 percent sure it was not the Suburban,” he testified.

Nor was it a Corvette that Jamie had been driving when he was shot at, Exantus testified.

The portion of the trial to determine if the guns will be admitted as evidence is expected to finish Wednesday.

kbolan@vancouversun.com

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