http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/justic...n-du-quebec.phpMORE THAN 700 KG OF COCAINE SEIZED ON A SAILBOAT BOUND FOR QUEBEC
DANIEL RENAUD
THE PRESS Dec.20,2017
A sailboat carrying more than 700 kg of cocaine was boarded by the US Coast Guard off Maine on the US east coast yesterday morning.
A Quebecker living in the Laurentians, Jean-François Cyr, was arrested on the boat, along with another passenger of European origin and the captain, an American.
According to our information, the 20-meter sailboat named Sea Ya II was targeted following an investigation initiated last spring by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Division in Nova Scotia and the US Department of Homeland Security.
The sailboat would have left the Dominican Republic and was anchored for several days on the Dutch side of the island of St. Martin, in the Caribbean Sea, before returning to the US coast and Canada.
It seems that the drug was destined for Quebec. We do not yet know the exact number of kilograms of cocaine discovered aboard the ship, but there are more than 700, according to our information. The value of the seizure would be at least $ 30 million when we know that 1 kg of untreated cocaine is currently trading at about $ 45,000 in Montreal and in the province.
"To have such a quantity of cocaine, it is probably not a single criminal organization, but at least two who would be behind this import," believes a police officer consulted by La Presse . In Quebec, some organizations would be strong enough to import more than 700 kg; among them, the Hells Angels and the mafia, thinks the policeman.
THE SEA YA II
According to information from the US Coast Guard consulted by La Presse , the Sea Ya II , which was built in 1994, would belong to Sagres Sailing Inc. of Fort Worth, Texas, and its administrative port would be in Wilmington, at Delaware. The last recordings are from February 2017 and are valid until next February.
The last time the sailboat reported her position was in December 2016, and was moored near Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
On September 3, customs officers at the Canada Border Services Agency in Halifax, Nova Scotia, found 273 kg of cocaine in a small boat arriving from the island of St. Martin. Two men were arrested and charged, a resident of Nova Scotia and a Montrealer, Luc Chevrefils, 59 years old.
- With the collaboration of Tristan Péloquin, La Presse