Operator of Brantford heavy equipment business arrested in $200-million cocaine bust

A Brantford man who runs a heavy equipment repair business has been charged in a massive cocaine importing bust that has allegedly taken almost $200 million of the drug off the streets of the GTA.

The arrest was announced by the Canada Border Services Agency and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police this week, almost a month after 1.5 tonnes of cocaine was seized by CBSA officers in Saint John, N.B.

The shipment was destined for a heavy equipment business in Brantford, authorities said.

The intercepted cocaine was removed in New Brunswick on Jan. 7 and the rest of the shipment continued on to Brantford, where arrests were made on Jan. 27.

Authorities didn't say which crime groups were involved in the smuggling operation.

The cocaine was travelling a winding route from Costa Rica, through Colombia, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic inside secret compartments in a large piece of machinery, authorities said.

The CBSA estimated the value of the seizure at approximately $198,000,000.

The narcotics were discovered concealed inside the cargo of a marine container; this represents the largest quantity of cocaine seized from a marine shipping container in Atlantic Canada in three decades," the RCMP said in a prepared statement.

Authorities said this week that the Brantford operation began in the fall of 2021, when the CBSA was tipped off about cocaine being shipped out of Central America.

In December 2021, CBSA began tracking a marine shipping container of interest which contained goods imported by a Greater Toronto Area (GTA) resident and exported from Central America, with a final destination of Saint John, NB.," the RCMP said in a prepared statement.

Five of the six people arrested in Brantford on Jan. 27 have since been freed with no charges.

Kyle Alexander Purvis, 34, of Brantford was charged with importing a controlled substance into Canada and possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking.

Corporate records list Purvis as director of a heavy equipment repair and service company on Mohawk Street in Brantford.

The Brantford bust drew praise from Marco Mendicino, federal minister of public safety, who praised the CBSA and law enforcement agencies for their efforts to disrupt criminal activity, protect Canadians and their families from the harmful impacts of drug smuggling, and ensure the integrity of our border."

CBSA President John Ossowski called the case a great example of how our officers in Canada and around the world work closely with our law enforcement partners to share intelligence, prevent illicit drugs from entering Canada, and protect our communities."

RCMP deputy commissioner Michael Duheme called the case a great example of RCMP Federal policing's effective joint work with its partners."

The bust follows a pair of recent drug trafficking cases involving large quantities of cocaine arriving in Ontario via Central and South America.

In November 2021, two southern Ontario drug traffickers were hit with life sentences after being convicted in a massive cocaine bust linked to Mexico's Sinaloa cartel.

That operation involved hiding cocaine inside large stone boulders that were imported from Mexico and later from Brazil. According to the Crown, it was the largest importation of cocaine ever prosecuted in Ontario.

Cocaine prices vary with the purity of the drug. The cocaine in the Kompon/ Buffone case was 93 per cent pure when it arrived in Canada, was then distributed to other criminal organizations.

At the time, Niagara police said the case was the first time he has heard of Mexican cartel members operating inside Ontario. At the time of those arrests, the Sinaloa cartel was headed by Joaquin (El Chapo) Guzman, now imprisoned in the U.S.

In August 2017, the OPP announced police had intercepted 1,062 kilograms of 97-per-cent-pure cocaine with a street value of $250 million.

That case involved cocaine shipped by a Mexican cartel to Canada through Argentina.

In Argentina, the case was called Bobinas Blancas - Project White Coils" - because some of the cocaine was shipped in containers of steel coils.

Police in Argentina found about 1,500 kilograms cocaine inside eight steel coils, ready to be shipped to Canada and Spain.

Weighing nearly 10,000 kilograms each, the coils were engineered to create a magnetic shield that blocked police scanners, police said.

Peter Edwards is a Toronto-based reporter primarily covering crime for the Star. Reach him via email: pedwards@thestar.ca