B.C. dope smuggler gets 20-year prison sentence

Published 10:52 pm Friday, March 13, 2009

SEATTLE — A Canadian man learned his punishment Friday for leading a multimillion-dollar international drug smuggling ring with ties to the Hells Angels that used Snohomish County as a shipment hub.

Robert Shannon, 39, of British Columbia, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. He was accused of distributing thousands of pounds of marijuana and cocaine across the U.S. and Canada.

The operation smuggled potent “B.C. Bud” marijuana in hollowed out logs and stuffed in plastic drain pipes. Some of the dope ended up in places including Arlington and Stanwood, where it was later shipped across the country.

The nearly four-year investigation led to the seizure of about 7,100 pounds of marijuana, 1,300 pounds of cocaine and more than $3.5 million. Almost a ton of marijuana, worth about $5.5 million, was discovered in a tractor trailer at a Stanwood weigh station in 2006.

Nearly 40 people have been charged in connection with the trafficking operation. About half are from Snohomish and Island counties.

Authorities have called the investigation one of the largest and most successful in local history.

The ring smuggled tens of ­thousands of pounds of marijuana into the U.S. and exported thousands of pounds of cocaine into Canada, special assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Cornell wrote in court documents.

Shannon was “the heartbeat of the conspiracy,” Cornell added. The Canadian man bragged that earned millions of dollars moving drugs across the border.

“Coupled with his association with the Hells Angels — an organization with a well-known ­influence on the international drug trade — the defendant stirred a toxic cocktail of drug addiction, fear and violence throughout the United States and Canada,” Cornell wrote.

Prosecutors accused Shannon of using a Hells Angels member to intervene in a drug dispute. They also accused him and his co-conspirators of paying for a failed assassination attempt against another drug dealer who burned them. The drug ring was busted open when Shannon attempted to bribe a man he believed was a corrupt U.S. border agent. The agent was an undercover officer with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Shannon and another Canadian, Devon Quast, were arrested in June after one last meeting with the undercover agent. Authorities found 350 pounds of marijuana. Some of the dope was concealed inside a load of fiberglass.

Shannon pleaded guilty in December to drug distribution and money laundering.

Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463, hefley@heraldnet.com.