Two men who pleaded guilty in March to smuggling more than $650,000 in Canadian and U.S. currency across the border near Blaine have been sentenced for the crime.
According to information from the U.S. Department of Justice, Mexican citizens Fabian Arias-Ramirez, 39, and Sergio Arroyo-Rivera, 22, were arrested Dec. 15, 2010, after officers with the U.S. Border Patrol located two men in camoflauge on a forest trail about 12 kilometres east of Blaine. A sensor along the border alerted the officers when the pair crossed into the states from Canada.
The men each had a backpack; each bag contained shrink-wrapped bags of cash. Believed to be the proceeds of illegal narcotics smuggling, the money has been forfeited.
Ramirez was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 20 months in prison; Arroyo-Rivera is to serve one year.