A Canadian man is facing federal smuggling charges after U.S. Border Patrol agents tracked him near the border in Northern Vermont.
Cedrick Bourgault-Morin, 21, was pulling 182.8 pounds of anti-anxiety medication on a sled at the time he was apprehended, according to court papers.
His haul of alprazolam, known by the brand name Xanax, was worth about $1.6 million, law enforcement says.
Bourgault-Morin attempted to cross from Quebec to Vermont in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
In the course of his crossing, he triggered surveillance on railroad tracks that led from the Canadian border to the village of North Troy. The area is a common route for organizations attempting to smuggle items into the United States, according to law enforcement.
Shortly after 1 a.m., three U.S Border Patrol agents responded to the area. While one agent tracked Bourgault-Morin’s footprints heading south from the border in the snow, two others set up further along the railroad tracks, poised to intercept him.
As Bourgault-Morin approached, the agents saw him dressed entirely in white camouflage. Behind him, he pulled a sled that contained a bulky item also wrapped in white camouflage. The officers reported seeing Bourgault-Morin try to conceal the sled and its contents with snow.
Bourgault-Morin, who did not speak any English, was arrested on suspicion of entering the country illegally. American law enforcement later identified him using his driver’s license, and with confirmation from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, according to court papers.
At the Border Patrol station in Newport, the agents searched the duffle bag and found it contained some 300 vacuum-sealed bags of pills. The pills had the pharmaceutical markings that denote Xanax, a prescription medication used to treat anxiety.
“Based on my training and experience, I know the amount of seized pills is clearly inconsistent with being an amount possessed solely for personal use,” John McGarghan III, a task force officer with the Drug Enforcement Administration, wrote in his affidavit.
A motion for detaining Bourgault-Morin filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office Thursday asserts that the situation suggests that he likely had support from the Canadian side of the border, and anticipated it in the United States.
“Given the value of the contraband, the indications of a drug trafficking organization with substantial assets, and the defendant’s alien status, the government believes a preponderance of the evidence exists that the defendant will flee,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Ophardt wrote in the document.
Bourgault-Morin could face five years in prison, and a $250,000 fine for the charges.
In a statement, U.S. Border Patrol Agent-in-Charge Fernando Beltran praised the officers involved in the mission.
“This is a great example of some of the training and unique skills our agents use to perform their border security mission,” Beltran said.
