Montreal man gets 22 years in U.S. prison in transborder fentanyl distribution ring

WASHINGTON — A Quebec man has been sentenced to 22 years behind bars for his role in a global scheme to distribute fentanyl and other synthetic opioids throughout the United States, all of it orchestrated from inside a Canadian prison. 

Xuan Cahn Nguyen, 43, of Montreal, was extradited to the U.S. in 2021 along with another Canadian co-conspirator before pleading guilty last year to drug distribution and money laundering charges in Fargo, N.D. 

Court documents say Nguyen, also known as “Jackie Chan,” worked to assist the “organizers and leaders” of the drug distribution ring: Jason Berry and Daniel Vivas Ceron, both prisoners inside the medium-security Drummond Institution in Drummondville, Que. 

Marie Um, 42, also of Montreal, whose alias was “Angry Bird,” was found guilty on several similar counts in April as part of a task force investigation known as “Operation Denial,” which led to charges against 34 defendants in North Dakota and Oregon. 

Berry and Ceron are scheduled to be sentenced next week. 

“Co-conspirators used computers to order and sell substances online using internet sites that are specifically designed to be hidden from the public,” prosecutors said in Nguyen’s plea agreement. 

“Co-conspirators arranged to obtain controlled substances and controlled substance analogues from (places) outside the United States including, but not limited to, Canada and China.” 

The investigation dates back to January 2015, when 18-year-old Bailey Henke died in Grand Forks, N.D., after ingesting fentanyl that was traced back to a pill factory in China. 

Henke’s death came at the forefront of what law enforcement officials and U.S. lawmakers call the “third wave” of the U.S. opioid crisis, a dramatic spike in overdose deaths caused by an influx of fentanyl and similar derivative drugs known as analogues.

Since then, the U.S. has embarked on a comprehensive effort to crack down on the flow of synthetic opioids into the country — the bulk of it coming from Mexico and amplifying long-standing concerns about southern border security. 

The White House announced a national response plan last week aimed at co-ordinating a “whole-of-government” response to the latest danger: fentanyl mixed with xylazine, a non-opiate muscle relaxant used as a veterinary sedative. 

Dr. Rahul Gupta, the director the Office of National Drug Control Policy, has already designated the growth of fentanyl-laced xylazine as “an emerging threat to the United States.”

The latest convictions illustrate the role Canada unwittingly plays in the continent’s pipeline of illegal fentanyl, which is why senior U.S. and Canadian officials met in both Washington and Ottawa this spring to plot strategy. 

That’s when U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas sat down with Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino and Justice Minister David Lametti as part of the 2023 Cross-Border Crime Forum. 

The strategy comprises a four-pronged multilateral effort, which includes identifying current and emerging synthetic drugs, drug demand and public health tools, exposing the “modes and methods” of traffickers and targeting their financial operations.

The principal goal of the White House is to disrupt the transfer, facilitation and supply of illicit fentanyl, its precursor chemicals and drug-making equipment like pill presses before they can even enter the hemisphere.

The U.S. also launched a joint Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Border Patrol crackdown in March that the agencies say seized nearly 5,000 pounds of fentanyl — more than 2,200 kilograms — in just the first four weeks.

Late last month, CBP officials at a border crossing in California intercepted a single shipment of 858,000 fentanyl pills concealed inside a pair of porcelain sink installations, both of which were accompanied by a legitimate shipping manifest. 

The agency estimated the 86-kilogram haul to have a street value of more than US$2.5 million. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 19, 2023.

James McCarten, The Canadian Press