The Associated Press
BILLINGS, Mont. - Three Canadian men face federal drug charges after a traffic stop near Glendive netted 145 pounds of the illegal drug ecstasy worth about $5 million on the street.
Timothy M. Morneau, 31, Christian D. Laurin, 19, and Alan James Mulder, 19, all of Winnipeg, Manitoba, are accused of smuggling the drugs across the U.S.-Canada border into North Dakota on a snowmobile.
On Feb. 9, a Montana Highway Patrol trooper stopped a vehicle near Glendive for having a headlight out. A search of the vehicle turned up at least 200,000 ecstasy tablets, said Travis Pitts, a Laurel police officer and special agent with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. The tablets sell for about $25 each on the street.
A criminal complaint charges the men with conspiracy to possess ecstasy for distribution and possession with intent to distribute. If convicted, they face up to life in prison and a $4 million fine. The case will be submitted to a grand jury for indictment.
Jim Tilley, the DEA’s resident agent in charge in Billings, said it was one of the largest ecstasy seizures in the state. A bust near Sweetgrass netted 100,000 tablets.
Ecstasy, a stimulant and hallucinogen, is typically packaged in pound quantities, Tilley said. The drug is manufactured for about $3 a pill by labs in Canada and Amsterdam.