This fruit grinder was used to smuggle massive quantities of cocaine from Mexico to B.C..Police handout
Suspicions about a "super-heavy" piece of farming equipment travelling between Argentina and Kelowna, B.C., have resulted in the seizing of nearly 100 kilograms of cocaine destined for the Okanagan Valley city.
The drugs were sealed inside a 2,300-kilogram fruit grinding machine that officers with the Canada Border Services Agency and the RCMP's federal Drug Enforcement Branch displayed for reporters at Kelowna International Airport on Tuesday.
The machine was flown from Argentina to Miami and then trucked to Vancouver, where its country of origin and massive weight raised red flags among Canadian border agents. On Sept. 22, they used a tiny video camera called a fibrescope to look inside the machine and discovered the cocaine.
"Normally we don't see super-heavy things come by air cargo," said CBSA Superintendent Robert Carmichael.
American agents did not notice anything amiss with the machine when it was unloaded in Miami, Supt. Carmichael said, who would not say if Canadian officials thought the drugs were place into the machine in Argentina or the United States.
RCMP Superintendent Brian Cantera said 97.5 kilograms of cocaine were seized, with a street value of between $3.5-million and $3.9-million, and that "it's fair to say" this case has ties to organized crime.
"This particular concealment method is quite sophisticated; it takes quite a great deal of effort and organization in order to be able to put this together," he said.
After the discovery in Vancouver, police allowed the drug-filled machine to continue its journey to an outdoor storage facility 400 kilometres away in Kelowna, where it was kept under surveillance until it was "breached."
"When we say breached, that means somebody showing that they knew what was in there and they were retrieving it," said RCMP Constable Michael McLaughlin.
On Oct. 4, 33-year-old Clifford Roger Montgomery was arrested at his West Kelowna home, and 50-year-old Barry Michael Ready, who also lives in West Kelowna, was arrested at a ranch 120 kilometres away in Merritt, B.C.
The two men remain in custody while police hunt for two other suspects. Arrest warrants have been issued for 43-year-old Victor Perez Rodriguez, a Mexican citizen, and 32-year-old Tariq Mohammed Aslam of Surrey, B.C.
All four men are facing two counts of conspiracy to import cocaine and one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking.
Supt. Cantera said the three Canadian suspects are known to police and that the RCMP have also recommended additional conspiracy to import cocaine charges against Mr. Ready in an unrelated case.
More than 50 RCMP investigators were involved in the Kelowna bust. The CBSA would not comment on how many of their officers participated.
The investigation continues and Supt. Cantera said the RCMP is working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and officials in Argentina and Mexico.
This is the second major B.C. drug bust announced by Canadian law enforcement agencies in a week. Last Tuesday, the RCMP and the CBSA showed off 275 kilograms of cocaine and methamphetamine with a value of about $9-million. The drugs were smuggled into Canada from Mexico inside thousands of stone bricks and cement fountains.
But despite similarities between the two cases, Supt. Cantera said there is no evidence they are linked.
Special to The Globe and Mail