B.C. man who tried to ship $750K worth of meth to New Zealand sentenced for trafficking

A bag of methamphetamine is seen in this undated file photo. (CTV News)

A B.C. man who was arrested after border guards seized $750,000 worth of methamphetamine – disguised as supplements and destined for New Zealand – has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Kien Trung Pham was found guilty of four counts of trafficking in methamphetamine, one count each of possession of fentanyl and cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, and four firearms offences last year, and his sentencing decision was posted online Wednesday.

"I found Mr. Pham to be the principal and directing mind of a mid- to upper-level drug trafficking operation," Justice Robin Baird wrote.

"Mr. Pham conscripted underlings to assist in his business and to insulate himself from detection," the decision also said.

The charges date back to 2019 when packages found to contain 7.5 kilograms of methamphetamine were intercepted at Vancouver International Airport. The shipments were done under the cover of being made by a fake company Pham created called Essential Nutrition Wholesale.

"The drugs were packaged in containers purporting to be muscle and tissue supplements. Styrofoam security caps had been heat-sealed onto the container tops so that they would appear to be legitimate," according to the decision.

"The operation was sophisticated enough in its own way, and international in its scope."

After the airport seizure, a search of an apartment in Nanaimo yielded further evidence of drug trafficking as well as two prohibited firearms, two unlicensed firearms and ammunition. The judge noted that the evidence at trial showed that suite was rented "exclusively for the purpose of operating his narcotics trafficking business."

Police seized six ounces of fentanyl and one ounce of cocaine from the apartment, worth an estimated $35,000 and $2,800, respectively. They also found one "score sheet" showing $163,000 in what the judge called "accounts receivable." Test messages and photos on cellphones seized during the search shed light on the nature and scope of the operation, according to the judge.

"These show with perfect clarity not only that he was heavily engaged in his New Zealand methamphetamine trade, but also that he was trafficking in all three of these substances locally in mid-level quantities of up to an ounce, and in smaller amounts via Canada Post across Canada, around the time of the police investigation that finally brought him down," Baird wrote.

"Mr. Pham was running a lucrative drug trafficking operation serving local, transnational and international dealers and users," he continued.

The Crown was asking for a total sentence of 15 years while the defence was seeking nine. Baird opted to impose the longer sentence, explaining part of his reasoning in a scathing paragraph.

"Given the seriousness of the present offences, the danger posed to drug users and the community from the traffic in methamphetamine, fentanyl and cocaine, the interrelationship between drug trafficking and lethal violence involving firearms, the scale and sophistication of Mr. Pham's business, and his role as the boss of the operation, a pure profiteer, let it be emphasized, not an addict himself, not involved in this pernicious trade to support his own habit, but a parasite enriching himself by the immiseration and destruction of others, it is obvious that denunciation, deterrence, and separation from society, are the predominant principles of sentencing to be applied," he wrote.

Pham was sentenced to 12 years for the drug and trafficking crimes, to be served concurrently, and an additional three years for the weapons offences.