There are plenty of old-school drug-smuggling myths that litter the internet, from hot-air balloon drops to camouflaged Lamborghinis outfitted with night vision. But as with most things, reality is sometimes stranger than fiction.
As is the case with a US resident getting busted for a plot to use a jet ski and raft to smuggle fentanyl and meth onto Canada's Vancouver Island. The reason they were caught? Dude stashed the illicit drugs on the beach and a family enjoying the sun and surf found it.
Bro.
According to CTV News Vancouver, 67-year-old John Michael Sherwood—a US resident—engaged in a plot to smuggle some 180 kilos (396 pounds) of fentanyl and methamphetamines to Vancouver Island via the Straight of Juan de Fuca. Sherwood stashed the goods along the coastline of Port Angeles, Washington, planning on returning, throwing the drugs onto a jet ski, and making his way across the Straight and into Canada.
But his plan went off the rails when, after he had dropped off a host of duffel bags onto the beach, and partially submerged them, a family who'd been camping on said beach discovered them. The outlet states that the family found the bags submerged and brought them to shore, thinking someone had lost them due to low tide. But the following day, after seeing the bags hadn't been picked up, they decided to open them.
Queue an astonished drug find and the cops being very interested in what was going on.
A few days after the initial discovery, more bags were discovered with more drugs, and a few beachgoers said they saw a U-Haul truck hanging around a secluded spot near the beach. They also discovered a deflated Zodiac-style raft in the area. The sum total worth of the drugs discovered? A cool $7 million.
Well, as you can imagine, the FBI decided to look into the case and, after a brief investigation using the serial numbers on the duffel bags linking them to sales at a local Walmart, and Sherwood using a credit card linked to him, the feds arrested him. He was recently found guilty of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute, and conspiracy to commit international money laundering.
His Canadian co-conspirator, Kevin Christopher Gartry, was also recently found guilty and sentenced to 11 years in jail. It was he who would use the jet ski to meet Sherwood and ferry the drugs into Canada.
Sherwood now faces 10 years to life for his role in the drug smuggling ring, as those are the minimum federal sentences for an operation of this size, and the quantity of drugs involved.
