Particularly disappointing, they say, is that this move came when the Crown's key witness, police informant Mubin Shaikh, was in the middle of testifying. Another police mole was scheduled to take the stand next.
"Tactically, the only inference available is that the Crown is afraid of the evidence being tested," said defence lawyer Michael Moon. "They're afraid for the actual evidence to come out that would establish the innocence of most, if not all, the accused."
Full story here:
http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/260004
Dunno what a "direct indictment" means? Here's some background reading for ya ...
DIRECT INDICTMENTS
http://www.justice.gc.ca/en/dept/pub/fps/fpd/ch17.html
Lawyers can't stop decision to go straight to trial
http://www.thestar.com/GTA/article/260194
Note: http://www.thestar.com/...
http://www.justice.gc.c...
http://www.thestar.com/...

I am willing to bet that most if not all of these patsies didn't have a clue what was happening till the day of the sting. Wonder where the RCMP got all that fertelizer without causing undue suspicion...
Now I wonder if the skipped preliminary hearings had a publication ban assigned? If not, that would be another reason for the government to skip it.