A man from Nanaimo is facing 11 years in a U.S. federal prison after being convicted of a drug offence in Utah.
Blake Arcand, 57, was sentenced Nov. 16. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, he had been charged with felony possession with intent to distribute.
The conviction follows Arcand’s arrest Aug. 16, 2016, after, according to the Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake, detectives in Salt Lake City County were tipped off by U.S. Homeland Security investigators that a vehicle, carrying a large amount of methamphetamine, was travelling northbound on Interstate 15 near Salt Lake City.
Arcand’s vehicle was stopped and a police search turned up close to 31 kilograms of methamphetamine worth more than $2 million U.S. in a large suitcase – the largest-ever seizure of methamphetamine in the state of Utah.
Police also found several new backpacks and a note pad with the names of several cities in Wyoming and Montana written on it. Investigators suspected Arcand planned to deliver portions of his load of methamphetamine to each of the cities.
Arcand was sentenced to 135 months in prison followed by 60 months of supervised release.
