Federal drug agents are refusing to work with an Alabama sheriff's deputy who is considered a leading U.S. expert on sniffing out traffickers. Some describe his methods as "mercenary," saying they may create an unethical cash incentive for officers to make busts.

Drug Enforcement Administration agents in Alabama are barred from participating in any case involving Barbour County Chief Deputy Eddie Ingram because of the concerns, according to Gregory Borland, assistant agent in charge of the DEA in Birmingham.

Ingram has a national reputation in law enforcement circles for knowing how to identify drug hauling-vehicles on highways, and he says he has traveled to 25 states training hundreds of officers in his methods.

Borland says some law enforcement agencies and officers were leaving their home territory to work on drug cases on a contract or contingency basis in exchange for a share of any assets that officers seize during arrests.

Besides ethical concerns, Borland says this practice may present possible violations of Alabama law.

"At best," says Borland, "this practice does not pass the `smell test;' it may very well result in severe restriction, or even elimination, of interdiction as a drug enforcement tool."

Ingram, who has been working on drug interdiction almost exclusively since 1997, said his employers typically get a share of any money he and his team seizes during training sessions.

He says such sharing agreements are typical among law enforcement agencies that work together on drug cases.

And, he says, "There are agencies all over the country doing the same thing."

Borland denied that such deals are common, but he declined further comment.