Canada-Mexico Cocaine Pipeline: Two Individuals With Sinaloa Cartel Ties Face Life Sentences

Two drug traffickers from southern Ontario responsible for the Canada-Mexico cocaine pipeline faced life sentences after being convicted in the largest cocaine bust in the history of Ontario.

Individuals Behind Canada-Mexico Cocaine Pipeline Face Life Sentences

According to Toronto Star, the two traffickers from Ontario were identified as Jeffrey Kompon of Welland and Vito Buffone of Caledon. Kompon and Buffone were each sentenced to life in prison after an appeal decision.

They were convicted of running a sophisticated drug pipeline that moved two tonnes of cocaine from Mexico to Ontario between 2011 and 2014. During a 2017 trial, the two individuals faced lower initial sentences.

On September 28, 2017, Vito Buffone was originally sentenced by Justice James A. Ramsay of the Superior Court of Justice to 22 years imprisonment, minus a year for pre-sentence custody and restrictive bail. Jeffrey Kompon, on the other hand, was originally sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment, minus 18 months' credit for restrictive bail and pre-sentence custody.

However, the Ontario Court of Appeal decision came after Kompon and Buffone appealed their convictions.

Buffone and Kompon were each convicted of trafficking cocaine, possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, committing offenses in association with a criminal organization, and conspiracy to import.

Aside from the charges, Kompon was also convicted of possessing proceeds of crime.

Sinaloa Cartel Members Hide Cocaine in Boulders to Enter Ontario

Based on the investigation of Canadian authorities, the massive drug-importation network was directed by the members of the powerful Sinaloa cocaine cartel of Mexico based in Ontario. Authorities considered it as the largest importation of cocaine ever prosecuted in Ontario.

The two Ontario-based drug traffickers' operations involved hiding cocaine inside large stone boulders imported from Mexico. They later expanded their operation and even got the cocaine shipment from Brazil.

The boulders from Mexico and Brazil were shipped to a warehouse near Port Colborne, Ontario, where the traffickers would crack open and extract the cocaine.

After the cocaine, which was determined as 93 percent, arrived in Canada, it was then distributed to other criminal organizations in the country.

The operation brought a total of 2,431 kilograms of cocaine into Ontario in 2013 alone, and at the time, local prices were roughly $36,000 to $39,500 per kilo.

Aside from Kompon and Buffone, 12 other individuals were arrested in September 2014 when police officers from seven law enforcement agencies executed search warrants in almost 30 locations in the Niagara Region and the GTA.

At the time, Det. Sgt. Shawn Clarkson of Niagara Regional Police said it was considered as the first case that involved Mexican cartel members operating in Ontario.

Furthermore, Mexican nationals Raul Bulhosen of Toronto and Borja Vilalta-Castellanos of Mississauga were earlier sentenced to prison terms of 18 and 17 years for their roles in the Canada-Mexico cocaine pipeline.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Jess Smith

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