Man Pleads Guilty for His Part in Canada
to Pittsburgh Marijuana Trafficking
A resident of Ontario, Canada, has pleaded guilty in federal court in Pittsburgh to his part in a drug trafficking operation that moved millions of dollars worth of marijuana from Canada to Pittsburgh.
50-year-old Nguyen An Thai is one of 15 people indicted in the case. Eight are US citizens. Seven are Canadian.
Prosecutors say that beginning in 2004 and continuing through July 2008, a Canadian drug trafficking group began smuggling 300-pound loads of high-grade, hydroponic marijuana across the border into the United States, hidden within legitimate commercial cargo.
The marijuana was destined for the Pittsburgh area, and at least six cities in other states. It wholesaled for at lease $2,000 per pound , with the street value being several multiples of that.
They say millions of dollars in cash were sent back to Canada from Western Pennsylvania, with several shipments of drug proceeds being intercepted and seized by agents before the money could be smuggled into Canada. Cash seizures included about $225,000 in Pittsburgh in February 2008; $222,000 in Niagara Falls, New York, in June 2008; and $660,000 in Allegheny County in July 2008.
Thai will be sentenced on July 16, 2010.
50-year-old Nguyen An Thai is one of 15 people indicted in the case. Eight are US citizens. Seven are Canadian.
Prosecutors say that beginning in 2004 and continuing through July 2008, a Canadian drug trafficking group began smuggling 300-pound loads of high-grade, hydroponic marijuana across the border into the United States, hidden within legitimate commercial cargo.
The marijuana was destined for the Pittsburgh area, and at least six cities in other states. It wholesaled for at lease $2,000 per pound , with the street value being several multiples of that.
They say millions of dollars in cash were sent back to Canada from Western Pennsylvania, with several shipments of drug proceeds being intercepted and seized by agents before the money could be smuggled into Canada. Cash seizures included about $225,000 in Pittsburgh in February 2008; $222,000 in Niagara Falls, New York, in June 2008; and $660,000 in Allegheny County in July 2008.
Thai will be sentenced on July 16, 2010.
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