Accused B.C. drug smuggler denied bail

Bruce Allan Simon moved from Langley to the tiny community of Bralorne eight years ago and bought a dilapidated motel and bar, as well as other property.

He and his spouse, Sally Bird, soon became fixtures in the historic gold mining town two hours north of Whistler.

But the man described as a pillar of his community by supporters is now sitting in a Seattle jail accused of flying a helicopter full of pot and ecstasy into the United States.

The 50-year-old B.C. man was denied bail at a hearing before U.S. District Court Judge James P. Donohue last week.

Simon was arrested on July 30 by U.S. Homeland Border Security agents who were conducting surveillance of Baker Lake in Whatcom County — a remote spot near the border.

At about 8:30 a.m., the agents saw a minivan parked beside a clearing in the woods near the border, the document says.

Five minutes later, they heard a helicopter hovering above them and watched it land. Simon allegedly removed four black duffel bags from the chopper’s passenger seat, and agents moved in and arrested him. They found just less than 10 kilograms of marijuana, 10.5 kg of ecstasy powder and nine more heat-sealed bags containing pills.

The U.S. agents contacted the RCMP to see what they knew about Simon, who has run a company called Simon Ventures Inc. since 2004. Mounties informed their counterparts that Simon had crashed another helicopter in June near Abbotsford.

“RCMP noted that the crash occurred in an area frequently used by drug traffickers to smuggle contraband across the international border,” the court document states.

The document also notes Simon didn’t file any flight plan or other necessary information for flying into the U.S.