Trial begins in Lethbridge for man charged in record-breaking border cocaine seizure

By Delon Shurtz Alberta Newspaper Group on March 17, 2021.

A two-week trial has begun for a northern Alberta man accused of trying to smuggle a record amount of cocaine through the Carway border crossing three years ago.

The Court of Queen’s bench jury trial for Bradley Michael Gaudrault began Monday at the Yates Memorial Centre, but without jurors, who were selected in the morning before being sent home for the day. During the afternoon the Crown and defence were expected to deal with preliminary matters, before the jury returned today to begin hearing evidence from Crown witnesses.

Gaudrault was charged March 19, 2018 with drug smuggling and drug possession for the purpose of trafficking after a man arrived at the Carway border crossing south of Cardston and was caught with 31 kilograms of cocaine. That amount, border officials announced following Gaudrault’s arrest, was the largest seizure of drugs to date at the Carway Port of Entry.

“A very conservative estimate of this amount of cocaine, if sold at the gram level, could be worth anywhere between $1.4 million and $3.1 million, or more, depending on how it was mixed, cut and sold,” a police spokesman said at the time.

The Canada Border Services Agency and RCMP reported following the incident that officers examined an SUV and discovered a steel compartment under a panel. The compartment was locked from the inside and connected to the vehicle’s electrical system, and could only be opened by pressing a sequence of buttons on the vehicle console.

Officers drilled through the compartment and discovered white powder inside. A search of the vehicle revealed 31, one-kg bricks of cocaine, which, if street-ready, would produce 310,000 hits, reported Guy Rook, director for southern Alberta CBSA.

Gaudrault was committed to stand trial following a preliminary hearing in December 2018, and a trial was set for June, 2020, before it was cancelled because of COVID-19 and had to be rescheduled.

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