National Post (National Edition)
Court documents lift veil on pot-smuggling techniques
Snowmobiles used in winter, boats in summer
A Canadian man detailed the ease of smuggling marijuana across the Canada-U.S. border through a native reserve, using boats across the St. Lawrence in summer and snowmobiles in winter to bring their loads to a waiting fleet of delivery drivers and scout cars used as decoys.
The details of the pot pipeline that delivered a steady stream of marijuana into the United States in an enterprise spanning six years is detailed in U.S. court documents filed at the guilty plea of the pipeline’s boss.
Colin Stewart, 41, of Elgin, Que., known by the nicknames C-Man and Cowboy, acknowledged his role in the operation Tuesday in a New York State courtroom.
While the plea agreement shows how smoothly his operation ran for years, it also highlights the ultimate cost of his chosen business plan — he accepted an 11-year prison term in the United States and up to a $10-million fine.
Stewart, with two other men, were originally indicted in 2013, but it wasn’t until this January that he finally appeared in a U.S. court in Syracuse, N.Y., after fighting his extradition from Canada.
After originally pleading not guilty, Stewart changed his plea on Tuesday and accepted a deal that outlined the operation that brought at least 1,000 kilograms of marijuana into the United States.
Stewart is named in court documents as the boss or organizer of the operation since at least 2005.
The marijuana started its life in Canada and was gathered together at Akwesasne, the First Nation territory that straddles the CanadaU.S. border, according to court documents.
Stewart provided cellphones to a posse of drivers and, whenever a load of marijuana was ready to be moved, he sent them coded text messages: “Meeting for breakfast” or “Meeting for lunch,” depending on the planned time of the run. That was the signal for them to come to the property of a co-conspirator at the end of River Road in Akwesasne.
In warm weather, they would load boats with the marijuana and power them across the St. Lawrence. In winter, they loaded snowmobiles to whip across the frozen waterway.
Once across the waterway border, a small fleet of cars and trucks were waiting. Each trip usually brought between 90 and 225 kilos of marijuana, court heard.
Stewart and the drivers then mapped out their exit plan — the timing, route and destination, as well as payments and exchanging money back and forth between Canadian and American dollars.
He gave each transport driver a slip of paper with an address, telling them where each specific load was destined. The marijuana was distributed to various locations in the northeastern United States.
Stewart also paid a number of scout drivers. The scout cars went out ahead of the transport vehicles as decoys, sometimes purposely speeding to detect hidden police speed traps and occupy the officers as the transport drivers drove past.
The operation started to unravel in 2011 when one of the truck drivers was questioned in a routine stop by the U.S. Border Patrol, according to court files. When the patrol officer asked if there was anything in the trunk, the driver said there was marijuana.
The driver was expected to testify at trials in the case.
Stewart, from a small township that hugs the U.S. border about 50 kilometres east of Cornwall, Ont., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute marijuana.
His deal avoids a potential life sentence. His conviction almost certainly means he will be deported back to Canada when his sentence is completed.
He is scheduled for sentencing in August. The sentencing judge is not required to accept the negotiated plea deal.
Stewart was the last of the three conspirators to see his case go to court. Earlier, Allan Peters, a U.S. citizen, was convicted at trial and Mathieu Forget pleaded guilty this year to conspiracy to distribute marijuana.
At Forget’s extradition hearing in Canada in 2016, court heard he inherited his role in marijuana smuggling from his father, Alain Forget, after his father was arrested in 2010; he is currently incarcerated in the United States.
The younger Forget at first was a scout and a boatman for Stewart and moved hockey bags of marijuana numerous times.
The investigation into the smuggling ring was led by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.