Lifelong criminal Garry Shank described being given an AK-47 rifle and instructions to kill a drug rival in Cranbrook as payback for a recent shooting.

Shank testified for a second day as a Crown witness in B.C. Supreme Court in the murder conspiracy trial of Lonnie Adams, Lorne Carry and Colin Correia. He told the court he was picked up in November 2009 in Calgary by Correia and Chad Munro, who had been recently shot by a rival in the East Kootenay drug trade.

While on the road, Correia contacted Carry in Cranbrook, telling his friend he was bringing “two rabid dogs from Calgary,” Shank described.

“It was basically retribution,” Shank said. “One of his (Correia’s friend) had just been shot. It was escalating. Cranbrook was their town.”

Shank later signed on as a police agent and wore a recording device. But in his testimony Thursday he described being on the run from police before that time, along with a friend, negotiating with Correia and Carry about the hit on their rival.

“I asked if they were looking to have him crippled or killed — whether they wanted me to spray his legs and cripple him or cut him in half,” Shank said in response to questioning by Crown lawyer Ann Katrine Saettler.

On the road from Calgary, Shank said Correia and Munro stopped the truck in Jaffray, nearby Cranbrook, so the the pair could show him Doug Mahon’s home, the layout of the rural property and the route they suggested he take to sneak up and kill the rival.

Shank said he wanted $5,000 to cripple Mahon or $10,000 to kill him. He also wanted a cash advance, a vehicle and a week to learn Mahon’s habits.

Before Shank could commit the murder, however, he was arrested by RCMP, acting on a tip from an informant, in the trailer where Carry had temporarily set him up.

He had fled from a Vancouver halfway house and was the subject of a Canada-wide warrant. With him was the AK-47 assault rifle he testified that Carry had supplied.

Shank’s testimony is expected to continue Friday morning.