A man from Pointe-aux-Trembles was sentenced to 22 years in prison in the United States on Monday for his participation in a fentanyl export operation managed from Drummondville prison by two accomplices who will also receive their sentences at the end of the month.
Xuan Cahn Nguyen, 43, pleaded guilty on May 31 to conspiracy to distribute and import controlled substances that resulted in grievous bodily harm and death, and conspiracy to launder money. money.
This conviction is part of a long-term operation carried out by the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OECDTF) on the international trafficking of fentanyl and entitled “Denial”. It began in North Dakota on January 3, 2015, with the overdose death of Bailey Henke in Grand Forks.
It was in Fargo, in this state in the north of the country, that Nguyen was sentenced on Monday. Once his detention is over, he will have to remain under supervision for three years. Recall that Nguyen was extradited from Canada to the United States on January 6, 2021.
As part of his guilty plea, the man had admitted to having helped Daniel Vivas Ceron and Jason Berry in their international distribution operation of fentanyl and similar products which they carried out from the correctional establishment of Drummondville, in Quebec.
A direct link between four deaths
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE RCMP
Xuan Cahn Nguyen
At that time, in 2019, Ceron was incarcerated in Drummondville penitentiary and serving a 19-year sentence for attempted murder and drug trafficking. He had managed to insert a smart phone into his cell and managed operations with the help of it, using aliases on an encrypted communications application and digital email addresses. Berry was at that time his fellow prisoner.
The latter must receive his sentence on July 24, still in Fargo, while Daniel Vivas Ceron will receive his at the same place the next day.
“The reason why the proceedings took place in the United States is that in the investigation, we were able to demonstrate a direct link between four deaths and five overdoses [survenus aux États-Unis] because of the fentanyl distributed by the organization”, had explained, in an interview with The PressRoyal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) drug specialist Jacques Théberge.
Nguyen’s precise role in the fentanyl export operations was not clarified by US authorities on Monday, but “Ceron [étant] incarcerated [lors des faits]so he needed people to facilitate the transactions and move the narcotics,” said RCMP drug specialist Jacques Théberge.
Fentanyl is a powerful opioid pain reliever. Its use, as a drug, is responsible for the deaths of thousands of people in the United States and Canada each year.
With Daniel Renaud, The Press