Nearly 60 kilos of cocaine, 29 illegal border flights, and six years on the run—Martin Briand’s high-stakes drug operation ended today in a Seattle federal courtroom with a 10-year prison sentence. The 37-year-old dual citizen of Canada and France was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard A. Jones after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine, a charge stemming from a sprawling 2009 smuggling ring that exploited a remote stretch of the U.S.-Canada border.
Briand’s criminal pattern emerged in October 2009, when two men crossing into Point Roberts, Washington—on foot from Canada—triggered alarms for cocaine residue. They admitted to flying from Point Roberts to Seattle on private charters, linking them directly to Briand, who funded their travel and coordinated drug movements. Between April and November 2009, Briand flew 30 times via private aircraft from Point Roberts to Southern destinations, bypassing legal U.S. entry points 29 times. Only once did he legally cross into the country.
The operation unraveled on December 12, 2009, when Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents tracked Briand and a co-defendant to Skagit County Airport. Surveillance footage showed the men struggling with heavy duffel bags, later loaded into a pickup truck. A Washington State Trooper stopped the vehicle; a drug detection dog alerted to narcotics. The bags were seized—inside: 59.2 kilos of pure cocaine. Briand and his associate were released pending investigation, but they abandoned the truck and fled. Briand vanished into Canada, ignoring repeated U.S. extradition requests.
For over six years, Briand remained a fugitive, dodging justice while ranked among ICE’s Top 10 Most Wanted. His capture came in December 2015, when he landed at Vancouver International Airport from France. Canadian authorities detained him pending extradition. In March 2016, he waived further legal challenges and agreed to be transferred to the United States to face the indictment.
At sentencing, U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes hammered home the human toll: “In just six months in 2009, this defendant made 29 flights in chartered aircraft between Point Roberts, Washington and points south without ever legally entering the U.S. These frequent illegal border crossings are a hallmark of drug smugglers. In his final trip, a Washington State Trooper caught him with nearly 60 kilos of cocaine.” Hayes added, “Anyone responsible for transporting these kinds of quantities of illegal drugs also is responsible for feeding countless drug addictions and the misery that comes with them.”
Brad Bench, Special Agent in Charge of HSI Seattle, called the conviction a win for cross-border law enforcement: “Homeland Security Investigations special agents disrupted a narcotics trafficking organization by identifying and targeting a lead conspirator circumventing our border security and customs protocols. Our partners, both foreign and domestic, combined efforts to take down one of ICE’s Top 10 Most Wanted fugitives and present the solid evidence needed to obtain a successful prosecution.”
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Key Facts
- State: Washington
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Drug Trafficking
- Source: Official Source ↗
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