B.C. drug smuggler was arrested after Phantom Secure phone seized by FBI
When undercover FBI agents seized an encrypted BlackBerry from Vancouver company Phantom Secure last June, they decided to message one of the contacts on the device.
The mysterious figure — “a known drug trafficker located in Canada” — was identified only as The Goat.
Agents learned details of a clandestine drug shipment planned from B.C. to Washington State, according to U.S. court documents laying out charges against Phantom Secure’s Vancouver-based owner Vincent Ramos.
“This operation ultimately led to the arrest of Saysana Luangkhamdeng as he attempted to smuggle MDMA into the United States,” the documents said.
Ramos, 40, was arrested last week on charges of racketeering and drug trafficking for allegedly aiding international organized crime groups, including the deadly Mexican Sinaloa cartel. He is expected to go to trial in San Diego.
Records from Luangkhamdeng’s Seattle prosecution lay out more details of what happened when he crossed the border into Blaine on June 10, 2017, about 11:30 a.m.
The Langley man, who is 41, was driving a 2009 Hyundai Santa Fe and wearing a Blue Jays jersey. He told a border guard that he and his passenger, another Canadian identified only as C.M. in the documents, were off to watch the Mariners play the Jays that afternoon at Safeco Field.
“According to the primary inspection officer, Luangkhamdeng appeared nervous and evasive during primary questioning,” U.S. Homeland Security Special Agent Nathan Hickman said in the original criminal complaint.
He said that Luangkhamdeng’s vehicle was similar to others that border guards had “found to have a secret compartment near the rear cargo area, so he was sent for secondary inspection.”
During that search, Luangkhamdeng “had his head bowed and his hands around his head.” He appeared “significantly stressed.” U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents found a secret compartment — commonly called a “trap” — near the rear cargo area.
“I know that these secret compartments are used regularly by drug trafficking organizations to smuggle illicit narcotics ... into and out of the United States,” Hickman said.
“… Though quality can vary, these compartments are often sophisticated and (traffickers) pay the manufacturers of these compartments as much as $50,000 to build and install them. It is not unusual for such aftermarket compartments to have the capacity to secret 30 or more kilograms of illicit narcotics.”
In the Santa Fe, agents found a key with an aftermarket fob on it and tried to use it to open the compartment. It didn’t work.
So one of the officers “drilled a small hole in the underside of the vehicle to determine if there was anything secreted inside the compartment,” Hickman said.
“After drilling into the interior of the compartment, a white powdery substance could be seen on the end of the drill bit as it was removed from the compartment.”
The powder was field tested and determined to be MDMA, or “moon rock.”
The agents removed the compartment and found a total of 24.2 kilograms of MDMA, estimated to be worth about $360,000 US.
Hickman said the powder can be purchased in Canada for about $9,000 per kilogram, then sold south of the border for as much as US$15,000. The transporters get paid about $1,000 to $2,000 per kilogram for their work.
While Luangkhamdeng initially asked the agents who arrested him for a lawyer, after three months in U.S. detention, he pleaded guilty last October to smuggling.
He is to be sentenced on May 4 and faces up to 20 years in prison and a $1-million fine.