North Okanagan man pleads guilty in Montana
A North Okanagan resident will find out his fate next month for his alleged part in a major cross-border drug smuggling ring.
Christopher Mark Chambers is one of six North Okanagan residents that have been arrested by authorities in Canada and the U.S. in connection with Project Faril, a large-scale international drug smuggling investigation launched in 2011 by the Regina Integrated Drug Unit.
Chambers pled guilty in Great Falls, Mont. to one count of conspiracy to export cocaine.
It’s a charge that carries a penalty of mandatory 10 years-to-life imprisonment, a $5 million fine and at least five years of supervised release, according to U.S. District Court documents obtained by The Morning Star.
A U.S. grand jury charged that between April 1, 2009 and Oct. 1, 2011 at Great Falls, Mont., Chambers and others knowingly and unlawfully conspired and agreed to export to Canada at least five kilograms of a substance containing a detectable amount of cocaine.
Chambers will be sentenced in Montana on July 30.
He is the only one of the six North Okanagan residents that was arrested in the U.S.
The other five were arrested in Canada, and their matters remain before the Canadian court system.
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