Canadian cocaine smuggler gets 10 years in U.S.
A 37-year-old Canadian who was caught with 59 kilos of cocaine has been sentenced to 10 years in jail in U.S. District Court in Seattle.
The U.S. Department of Justice said Friday that Martin Briand, who is also a French citizen, was sentenced for conspiracy to distribute cocaine after the cocaine was seized in December 2009.
Briand was on the run for six years before being arrested in December 2015 upon arriving at Vancouver International Airport from France.
He had been identified by Canadian and U.S. border agents as being extensively involved in smuggling cocaine into Canada.
“In just six months in 2009, this defendant made 29 flights in chartered aircraft between Point Roberts, Washington, and points south without ever legally entering the U.S.,” said U.S. Attorney Annette Hayes. “In his final trip, a Washington state trooper caught him with nearly 60 kilos of cocaine. Anyone responsible for transporting these kinds of quantities of illegal drugs ... deserves the lengthy sentence imposed in this case.”
On Dec. 12, 2009, Briand and a co-defendant flew into the Skagit County Airport and were observed struggling with heavy bags they loaded into a pickup truck.
The truck was stopped by law enforcement. A Washington state trooper seized the bags for later search and Briand and his associate were allowed to leave. The men abandoned the truck and Briand fled to Canada. Briand refused to return to the U.S., but after his arrest at YVR, he was detained in Canada before agreeing to be extradited to the U.S. last March. bmorton@postmedia.com