Drug smuggler pleads guilty, gets two years
Anthony Jurcev helped coordinate massive cocaine ring
A B. C. man who admitted that he helped smuggle hundreds of kilograms of cocaine with an ex- Mountie and a border guard has been handed a two- year sentence in a Seattle courtroom.
Anthony Jurcev, 26, could have spent anywhere from a decade to life behind bars for his role in the elaborate crossborder smuggling ring that U. S. authorities have linked to the Hells Angels.
By waiving extradition and pleading guilty, Jurcev avoided the minimum 10- year sentence for conspiracy to traffic cocaine.
Jurcev was sentenced Friday by U. S. District Court Chief Judge Robert Lasnik.
He is just the latest in a series of B. C. residents serving time south of the border after pleading guilty to their role in the large- scale smuggling ring.
Jurcev was recruited by exRCMP officer Rapinder ( Rob) Sidhu, who is also charged in the U. S. but has not yet been extradited.
“Anthony Jurcev was a member of a highly organized, longrunning conspiracy that was responsible for the transportation and exportation of enormous quantities of cocaine from the United States into Canada,” Asst. U. S. Attorney Sarah Vogel said in her sentencing memo. “He worked directly with Sidhu to implement the scheme. Sidhu, of course, is the person who recruited the Canadian border inspector, who also was involved in this scheme.”
Former Canada Border Services Agency employee Jasbir Singh Grewal also pleaded guilty and was given a five- year sentence in November 2011.
“Jurcev’s role in the conspiracy was to help Sidhu by relaying instructions and helping to coordinate the individuals that were transporting the cocaine for the smuggling organization, thus facilitating the transportation of the cocaine,” Vogel said in court documents. “On most occasions, the cocaine was hidden in a motorhome or minivan, and crossed into British Columbia, Canada, from Western Washington.”
Two of the shipments — totally almost 500 kilograms — were intercepted by U. S. law enforcement in June 2007 and May 2008.
Jurcev’s lawyer Irwin Schwartz had asked for an 18- month sentence, saying it was more in line with what others involved in the drug ring had earlier received.
And he claimed Jurcev “is a man with multiple medical and psychological problems.”
The drug ring was active until the arrest in June 2008 of B. C. smugglers Rob Shannon and Devron Quast. Both men pleaded guilty, as did other high- profile members of the drug gang, including Jody York and Skeeter Russell.