COKE SMUGGLER GETS 12 YEARS

Citing the need to deter others from trying to smuggle cocaine across
the Canada-U.S. border, a Windsor judge sentenced a Quebec trucker
Monday to 12 years in prison for his attempt to bring the drug across
the Ambassador Bridge earlier this year.

Andre Couture, 29, of Plessisville, Que., was given the sentence by
Ontario court Justice Lloyd Dean after pleading guilty to importation
of a controlled substance.

"The offence Mr. Couture has committed compels a sentence emphasizing
denunciation and deterrence," Dean told court as Couture listened with
a French interpreter.

"The use and sale of cocaine kills and harms directly and indirectly.
Cocaine's sale and use is clearly and strongly associated with violent
crime."

Court heard that Couture had no prior criminal record and had been
employed as a truck driver since the age of 19.

He was hired by Trans West Logistics in Montreal in March at a salary
of $890 weekly and in early April drove to Castroville, Calif., and
picked up a load of lettuce on April 6. He then drove to a second
location and picked up a load of 120.7 kilograms of cocaine that was
hidden among the lettuce.

On April 9 at 1:05 a.m. Couture attempted to re-enter Canada at the
Ambassador Bridge. Canada Border Services Agency inspectors had been
tipped about the drug shipment and were on the lookout for the truck.

Couture was arrested at 2:15 a.m. after inspectors discovered the
bricks of cocaine, worth an estimated $12 million.

He initially denied any knowledge of the drugs but eventually admitted
he had picked up the cocaine to transport it to Montreal, for which he
was to be paid $28,000.

A second man accompanying Couture, Roger Godbout, 39, of Thetford
Mines, Que., has pleaded not guilty. A preliminary hearing is
scheduled for his case in the spring.

Couture's lawyer Roland Schwalm was seeking a sentence of 10 years
while federal Crown attorney Richard Pollock was seeking a sentence of
16 years.

"His honour considered all of the submissions and took into account
the plea at the earliest opportunity," said Pollock, who said the
sentence is the highest for someone locally who made an early guilty
plea.

A presentence report found that Couture was one of four children and
that his mother died of cancer in 2004, and he "has not dealt well
with her death."

Couture has struggled with debt throughout his life, court
heard.

"He intended to use all or some of the $28,000 he was to be paid to
pay off debt," said Dean.

"He became involved in criminal activity for his own financial
gain."

Dean noted the mitigating factors of a positive presentence report,
Couture's lack of a criminal record, and his early guilty plea.

Dean cited several aggravating factors, such as the use of a
commercial vehicle to do the smuggling and the fact Couture's actions
were "planned, calculated and deliberate."

"Thousands of commercial vehicles cross the Canada-U.S. border each
day and it is impractical and impossible to search every vehicle,"
Dean said.

"Drug smugglers and their couriers are no doubt aware of this
fact."

Among the evidence introduced was a CBSA report entitled Significant
Cocaine Seizures -- Windsor Commercial Operations 2000-2008.

Dean noted that the report detailed a number of smuggling attempts
intercepted by the CBSA and that the problem of drug smuggling aboard
commercial trucks is on the rise.

Up until Sept. 15 of this year a total of 488.8 kilograms of cocaine
have been seized on the Canadian side of the Windsor-Detroit border,
already the most seized in a single year.

The CBSA describes what amounts to a drug pipeline from California to
the Canada-U.S. border at Windsor being operated by organized crime
groups.