N.B. man sentenced for trying to smuggle 71 kilos of cocaine into Canada

A New Brunswick man will serve a nine-year prison sentence for trying to smuggle 71.5 kilograms of cocaine into Canada.

A New Brunswick man will serve a nine-year prison sentence for trying to smuggle 71.5 kilograms of cocaine into Canada.

According to a news release from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), Gerry Cawley, a commercial truck driver, entered the Pacific Highway Commercial border crossing in a tractor-trailer carrying personal care products from California on March 18, 2021. Officers searched the vehicle and found 64 individually wrapped bricks of suspected cocaine.

The cocaine seized had an estimated value of more than $3.5 million.

Crawley was found guilty of possession for the purpose of trafficking and importing/exporting a controlled substance. He received the nine-year sentence on Feb. 26.

According to the release, CBSA’s Pacific region seized 7,900 kg of methamphetamine and 239 kg of cocaine from Jan. 1, 2023 to Oct. 31, 2023.