A crack dealer who's the only witness so far to identify most of the suspects in university student Graham McMynn's kidnapping says he believed some conversations with police were off the record and that he was concerned about being a suspect himself.

The young man, who under a publication ban can only be identified as Mr. X, told B.C. Supreme Court on Wednesday that he ran a so-called dial-a-dope operation with Jose Hernandez and Sam Tuan Vu, two of the five men accused of snatching McMynn in April 2006.

Mr. X was shot and badly wounded in April 2005 while riding in a car with Vu and after recovering moved to Alberta where he said he worked "in the bush.''

He said he returned to Vancouver in April 2006, thinking he might get back into drug dealing.

Mr. X said he spent a night at a suburban Surrey house where McMynn was being held, "getting loaded'' and playing poker.

In his direct testimony Monday, Mr. X identified Hernandez, Sam Vu, Van Van Vu and Ahn The Nguyen as people he saw at the house.

The pudgy young man said he heard someone asking permission to go to the bathroom but that the never actually saw the person. His friends told him they were doing an "intervention'' to help a friend get off crack.

The following day he took a flight to Seattle before returning to Alberta.

Under cross examination from defence lawyers Mr. X said he was interviewed by detectives several times last year, including what he thought were off-the-record conversations before he gave a formal sworn statement.

Police were recording all their talks with him but he told lawyer Chandra Corriveau, representing Sam Vu, that he asked them sometimes to turn off the tape. He wanted assurances they were not gathering evidence.

In fact, the recorder was never turned off and Corriveau read out transcripts of his conversations with detectives who visited him in Alberta.

At one point he asked if the kidnappers had been "caught red handed,'' and was told that they were.

Corriveau suggested Mr. X wanted to ensure there was a strong case against them before saying anything.

"I just wanted to know how big this trial was,'' Mr. X replied.

Mr. X agreed that during one interview, investigators said other officers suspected he might be involved in the kidnapping and that providing a detailed account of what he knew would help his situation.

"They had their suspicions,'' he said.

Vancouver Det. Const. Derek Adams said he was trying to help Mr. X stay clear of charges.

"Swear to God you're helping me?'' Mr. X said in the interview transcript.

"Swear to God,'' Adams responded.

Mr. X would eventually receive a letter promising immunity from prosecution but still wasn't forthcoming with details in his initial interviews.

He admitted what he told police that wasn't the whole story.

"I wasn't truthful in my earlier statements,'' he told Corriveau.

He said he revealed more after officers suggested Sam Vu might have been responsible for him being shot in 2005. He previously believed Vu saved his life by driving him to hospital.

"I still don't know what it (the shooting) was about,'' he testified. "I don't know what to believe.''

Corriveau also suggested some details in Mr. X's statements were provided by police, such as what fast food the kidnappers fed to McMynn during his eight days in captivity before police rescued him.

Nguyen's lawyer, Karen Bastow, also suggested Adams pressured Mr. X to identify her client from a surveillance photo as the man who let him into the Surrey house and whom he later drove into downtown Vancouver.

Mr. X said he never positively identified Nguyen in the photo, despite Adams' repeated requests.

"He wasn't putting pressure on me,'' he said. "I just wasn't sure who he was.''