Accused, Shane Kelter, Walther Edgardo (Sharky) Orellana Aguilar and John (Keith) Wark, are Vancouver residents, who U.S. authorities say worked illicitly for Canadian Jason I. Ming Wei, based in Temple City, Calif.Wei was arrested Sunday night at Los Angeles International Airport as he attempted to board a flight to Canada, U.S. Attorney spokesman Thom Mrozek said.
Six Canadians are among 18 people facing charges in California after a massive two-year investigation into a cross-border drug smuggling ring allegedly moving marijuana, ecstasy and cocaine between B.C., Ontario and California.
Two other Toronto men, Jagmohan Singh Dhillon, 35, and 32-year-old Paramijt (Pumma) Singh, allegedly helped facilitate the transportation of Wei's drugs between Canada and the U.S., according to the indictment.Mrozek said in an interview that provisional arrest warrants against the Canadians would be sworn in the next few days."I anticipate that the United States will be making a request to have them arrested in the very near future," Mrozek said. "The investigators have been in contact with the RCMP in terms of identifying these Canadian characters up there."
He said all the B.C. and Ontario suspects are believed to be somewhere on this side of the border.Dubbed Operation Candystore, the investigation was led by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force.Seven American defendants were arrested Tuesday morning and will appear in court next week, Mrozek said.
Last month, a federal grand jury near Los Angeles returned two indictments that outline the alleged activities of the criminal organization.Both indictments charge Californian Nathanael Garrard Lineham, who runs a company called Data Locking. The indictment says Lineham used and distributed encrypted BlackBerrys to the gang to facilitate their drug trafficking.U.S. authorities say that during the investigation, they seized cash and drugs, including a 60-kilogram shipment of cocaine and a 35-kilogram shipment of cocaine.The charges include conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute ecstasy, cocaine and methamphetamine; two counts of possession with intent to distribute ecstasy; three counts of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine; possession with intent to distribute cocaine; and money laundering.If convicted, the accused would face mandatory minimum sentences of 10 years.The court documents allege that Wark worked with Lineham to send methamphetamine (MDMA) from B.C. to California."Defendant Wark and others would arrange to have the MDMA transported across the Canadian border and delivered to individuals who would drive the MDMA to the Southern California area," one indictment says.Coded e-mails were sent back and forth last November between the accused men, the indictment says, pointing out that the American was angry with Wark "for importing certain MDMA tablets that he intended to sell."They talked about extra security at the border on November 23, 2007 before Lineham allegedly sent another Californian accused in the case to Seattle by plane to meet the drugs.Wark sent another encrypted message a day later saying the courier was having car trouble and that those coming to get the meth would need "a phillips screwdriver to get it out," the court papers say.In mid-December, a Lineham phone call was intercepted in which he wondered about being busted because 85,000 MDMA tablets had been seized in Washington state.
"Defendant Lineham stated that he believed he was not implicated because the emails were encrypted and law enforcement would not be able to read the emails," the court papers say.The indictment says that Kelter, of Vancouver, would direct the activities of Wei - the Canadian in California - "related to the trafficking of narcotics to or from Canada and the laundering of money."Wei was the middleman, the documents say, overseeing the meth entering from Canada and "the trafficking of kilogram quantities of cocaine to Canada from the United States."Wei was recorded talking to one of the Toronto men, Singh, on June 15, 2007 about sending Dhillon "to pick up cocaine from defendant Wei in Los Angeles country to transport to Canada."Wei allegedly spoke on the phone to Dhillon later that week, and Dhillon "explained that he was driving a tractor-trailer so that defendant Wei could load the cocaine."
Forty-five kilos of coke were allegedly loaded onto the truck on June 19, 2007 at a warehouse.Aguilar allegedly met with Wei in California in August 2007 to pick up cocaine for B.C.Wei was recorded talking to Kelter in Vancouver expressing "concern that he was being followed by law enforcement so he abandoned the vehicle" with $200,000 US in it.
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