Huge cocaine bust at Coutts border crossing
Posted Jun 26, 2012 2:38 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The RCMP say they have arrested three men, two of them from Southern Alberta, for trying to smuggle 16 kilograms of pure cocaine into Canada from Mexico.
“A total of 16 kilos of cocaine was seized coming into the Canadian border,” Sergeant Patricia Neely tells 660News. “There’s also conspiracy to import cocaine charges. So those are fairly significant charges. And the investigation is a pretty detailed, well done investigation.”
Neely says the bust comes following a 15-month cross-border investigation with U.S. law enforcement agencies, making it more complicated as well as lengthy.
“Because it is multi-jurisdictional, between Canada and the United States, there’s a lot of protocols for information sharing and things like that that have to be in place,” she adds. “As well we need to make sure we’ve gathered adequate intelligence and evidence.”
She notes that not only was the seizure at the Coutts border crossing notable in size, but it also has ties to organized crime in Mexico.
“It’s always a concern when we know that organized crime is involved,” says Neely. “But it” (organized crime) “is almost always involved when we’re talking about these amounts of narcotics.”
On Tuesday, the Mounties arrested 31 year old Abram Klassen of Taber and 35 year old Jacob Dyck of Coaldale. A 33 year old Mexican man is being held in London, Ontario, on related charges.
