Colin Hugh Martin

Image Credit: Facebook

He used a fictitious company, helicopters, and encrypted Blackberries to move the drugs back and forth between Canada and the U.S., until undercover agents busted the operation in 2009. 

Now, after a nearly ten year legal battle, Colin Hugh Martin of the rural Shuswap community of Malakwa, has agreed to plead guilty. On March 22 in Seattle District Court, he signed a plea agreement admitting to one count of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute controlled substances, according to court documents.

The sentence for such a crime ranges from a minimum of five years to a maximum of forty, and fines up to $2 million. As part of the plea deal, the U.S. Attorney’s office is recommending a sentence of no more than 10 years in jail. 

Martin admitted to being responsible for arranging the transportation of drugs across the border. He purchased and leased various helicopters and recruited pilots to fly the illegal drugs, court documents say. He also recruited and directed other conspirators who offloaded and transported the drugs within Canada and the U.S. Transport and distribution was planned out via encrypted Blackberry devices using codenames. Martin used the name “Rolex” among others.

The scheme involved sending batches of MDMA, or ecstasy, and marijuana from Canada to the U.S., where helicopters would then pick up cocaine to bring back on their return.

In February of 2009, two American co-conspirators were attempting to transport a load of 83 kg of cocaine when they were intercepted by officers in Utah. Using the conspirators’ Blackberry device, agents pretended to be the transporters and continued the planned delivery to a helicopter landing spot in rural northeastern Washington State, where it was to be loaded into a helicopter and flown to Canada. A couple days later, the helicopter — which was leased by Martin through a fictitious company — arrived to drop off a load of 190 kg of pot in exchange for the cocaine.

While Martin has been fighting extradition for years, two of his co-conspirators have already been sentenced. Sean William Doak was extradited to the U.S. where he was sentenced to seven years in jail. 

Adam Christian Serrano was sentenced in the U.S. to three years, according to a report from the Vancouver Sun. The same report says Cameron continues to fight his extradition order, and is currently awaiting a ruling on his application to appeal. 

Another conspirator, Samuel Lindsay-Brown, was caught in 2009 flying 420 pounds of marijuana into the U.S., according to court documents. He was arrested and later hung himself in a jail in Washington. Another pilot tied to the case, Jeremy Snow, was found murdered in West Kelowna in 2013.

In 2014, Martin was sentenced to two years in jail related to a large marijuana grow-op located in Malakwa.

Martin is now awaiting a June sentence hearing for the conspiracy to distribute charge.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston or call 250-309-5230 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. 

News from © iNFOnews, 2018