Toronto man sentenced to 16 years after $13M drug bust
A Toronto man will serve 16 years behind bars after being caught smuggling $13 million worth of cocaine and methamphetamine from Detroit into Windsor.
A Toronto man will serve 16 years behind bars after being caught smuggling $13 million worth of cocaine and methamphetamine from Detroit into Windsor.
According to the RCMP, the drugs were first discovered by the Canada Border Services Agency in March 2023 during a secondary inspection at the Ambassador Bridge.
The $13 million shipment was hidden in a transport truck.
In an Agreed Statement of Facts, Marvin Watson, 32, hired a trucking company to pick up the load at an undisclosed U.S. location in the Detroit area to be transported into Ontario.
While the driver of that truck was initially arrested and charged, he was later released from custody after investigators determined the driver had no knowledge of the contents inside his trailer.
The methamphetamine was discovered stowed away in two large wooden storage crates in the transport, with each containing five black plastic totes filled with vacuum-sealed methamphetamine.
The cocaine was seized shortly after from a storage truck operated by Watson in York.
Watson previously pleaded guilty to five drug-related charges, including possession of cocaine and crystal methamphetamine.
His sentencing had initially been scheduled for January but was delayed following approval from the court so that he could witness the birth of his first biological child in May.
“I would like to thank you for granting me the time to be there with my family when my baby was born. That means a lot,” Watson told Justice J.P. Howard during his hearing in Windsor on Tuesday.
Watson’s lawyer told the court that his client entered into drug trafficking by first selling marijuana during the pandemic before taking on larger shipments of harder drugs.
“He was the courier, not something more than that,” lawyer Frank Retar told Justice Howard during Watson’s hearing.
Retar went on to say that Watson was not a drug user himself and that his actions were “a crime of profit.”
“I just wanted my family safe, so I made the decision to keep going,” said Watson, telling the court that he never intended to hurt anyone.
“I just got myself into a situation, and I thought the best way to get out was to get arrested,” he said. “I don’t want anybody to think I’m just some money-hungry guy.”
His wife, Maria Kiguru, was also charged and pleaded guilty to laundering proceeds of Watson’s crime last September.
She was sentenced to two years less a day of house arrest.
Retar presented a joint submission for sentencing along with federal prosecutor Surinder Singh Aujla, asking for a “global sentence” of 16 years in prison.
His sentence was reduced to 14 years and five months because he served more than 200 days in pre-trial custody.
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So, an Iraqi guy murders a man in cold blood and is set free, but a guy making a profit on drugs just like Trudeau and other MP's gets 16 yeras, absolute nuts, Trudeau & gang should get life until dead...!!!
Lawyerspeak: the importation of $13 million dollars of cocaine and methamphetamine is merely a crime of profit. And supposedly Watson did not mean to contribute to the destruction of individual users or their victims such as pedestrians and responsible drivers. The poor guy! Thanks to the CBSA for caring.