A West Kelowna man was sentenced to 14 years in prison for smuggling nearly 100 kilograms into Canada using a fruit mill machine.
Clifford Roger Montgomery was convicted earlier this year of conspiracy to import, possession for human trafficking and conspiracy to traffick in human beings. His co-defendant Salvador Ascencio-Chavez was found guilty of the same charge and sentenced to 13 years in prison in August.
A third man, Tariq Aslam, was found guilty of possession for trade and conspiracy to import. He will be sentenced in Vancouver next week.
In 2010, border officials in Vancouver stopped a fruit mill machine that was being shipped to Kelowna from Argentina. RCMP members found 97 kilos of almost pure cocaine hidden in the 2,400 kg machine.
The officers set up an undercover stab, replaced the real drugs with a placebo, and planted a bugging device in it. They then shipped the fruit mill to its final destination in Kelowna. The three men were later arrested, Montgomery in Kelowna and Aslam and Ascencio-Chavez in the United States.
The street value of the drugs was estimated at $ 3.5 million.
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