A Montreal man pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday in Vermont to being part of an effort to smuggle 1,500 kilos (3,300 pounds) of cocaine from Peru to Vermont and then to Canada in a plot that prosecutors say was related. with the kidnapping of a new old man. York couple last year.
During a video hearing in U.S. District Court on Thursday, prosecutors said the conspiracy plot involving 40-year-old Georges Yaghmour was part of the same plan that resulted in the kidnapping of the couple of Moira, New York, in September 2020, although prosecutors did not allege Yaghmour. participated in the kidnapping.
The couple were held for ransom after 50 kilos (110 pounds) of cocaine failed to reach its intended destination in Canada. The other conspirators did not realize that the cocaine had been seized in South Burlington, Vermont, by agents of the US Drug Enforcement Administration. The couple were taken to Canada and later rescued by Quebec police.
Yaghmour was arrested in Florida in November 2020, where he had traveled to discuss why the cocaine had not been delivered as scheduled, authorities said.
Yaghmour’s plea for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than 500 grams of cocaine carries a maximum penalty of up to 40 years in prison. The plea agreement calls for a sentence of just over 11 years. Sentencing is scheduled for March.
During the 40-minute hearing, Yaghmour acknowledged that he was involved in the cocaine conspiracy, but said he was not involved in the kidnapping.
Federal District Judge Geoffrey Crawford explained to Yaghmour the consequences of pleading guilty, including that, as a Canadian citizen, he could be barred from re-entry into the United States after his return to Canada.
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“My biggest punishment is that I can’t go back to the United States,” Yaghmour said.
Prosecutors say Yaghmour, under the direction of others, participated in a meeting in Burlington in December 2019 to discuss the plan to move cocaine between Peru and Canada through Vermont.
At the meeting, which included an undercover DEA agent and another person who was cooperating with police, Yaghmour inquired about shipping the drugs from South America to Mexico, but the DEA agent proposed to ship the drugs to Vermont for disposal. subsequent distribution, according to the statement. agreement.
A couple of weeks later, an anonymous accomplice gave the undercover agent $ 150,000 as a down payment. In the spring of 2020, the DEA sting operation received cocaine in South America for shipment to Canada via Vermont, under the plea deal.
Two controlled deliveries were made, one in Massachusetts and the other in Vermont, but neither drug made it to its intended destination in Canada.
It was after the Vermont shipment failed to reach its Canadian destination that the New York couple, 70 and 76, and the grandparents of one of the Vermont couriers, were abducted by others involved in the conspiracy, authorities said. .
They were taken across the border and transferred to a home in Magog, Quebec. The kidnappers demanded a ransom for the 50 kilos of cocaine seized in Burlington or a payment of $ 3.5 million.
© 2021 The Canadian Press
Reference-globalnews.ca