Two men found with more than 1,000 kilograms of cocaine on a sailboat in Port Hardy, B.C,, have been charged with drug possession for the purpose of trafficking.
Scott Pedersen, 39, of Victoria, B.C., and 38-year-old Mexican national Vicente Hernandez made their first appearance in a Victoria court on March 12, when they were formally charged.
The men were arrested on March 6 after RCMP discovered a massive stash of cocaine on their 50-foot boat, the Huntress, sailing to Vancouver Island out of Panama.
The boat, along with a 15-foot inflatable dinghy and several pieces of expensive electronics, was also seized during the arrest.
Sgt. Dave Goddard of the RCMP's federal drug enforcement branch told ctvbc.ca that the street value of the cocaine is difficult to estimate because so many impurities are added before sale.
If it were sold pure, however, "it would go anywhere from $40 thousand to $50 thousand per kilo," Goddard said. That puts the absolute minimum value of the cocaine at $40 or $50 million.
He added that it is too early to tell if the smuggling operation has any connection to organized crime in Mexico, where a deadly drug war is raging.
In an RCMP statement, Solicitor General Kash Heed described the drug bust as offering a small glimpse at the inner workings of organized crime here at home.
"This bust shows the sheer magnitude of just one organized crime operation which would have translated into hundreds of millions of dollars of cocaine on the street," Heed said.
The RCMP believe that more people are involved in the drug-smuggling operation, and are asking for anyone with further information to contact police.
