Saturday, May 27, 2017

Cruise staff arrested in Vancouver ordered deported for Cocaine Importation

Three Nicaraguan crew members arrested on a cruise ship docked at Canada Place last week are now being deported under the transnational crime provision of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Federal officials allege they smuggled Colombian cocaine to Canada while muling for a cartel. Willard Murray Brooks, Emil Hebbert Garth and Jason West Carter appeared before an adjudicator. The three of them met a man in Cartagena, Colombia who gave them 10 kilograms of cocaine and instructions on what to do when they arrived Vancouver. They then smuggled the cocaine aboard the Island Princess cruise ship when it was docked in Cartagena. They did so in secret compartments of their shoes and clothing.

The men took five kilograms of the cocaine to the Pacific Centre food court that day and waited, as instructed. A man met them, took them to his car, and paid them US$30,000 in exchange for the drugs.
They tucked the cash into their underwear before heading back to the ship at Canada Place. When they went through routine CBSA screening at the cruise ship terminal, officials found the undeclared cash. A search followed and CBSA discovered another kilogram of cocaine in the men’s personal quarters.