Vancouver man sentenced to 14 years in Australia for drug smuggling

A Metro Vancouver man has been handed a hefty sentence down under for smuggling 29 kilograms of cocaine and pre-cursor chemicals into Australia.

Eric Lawrence, 32, was sentenced last week to 14 years and must serve a minimum eight years and five months before being eligible for parole.

Lawrence was arrested last year with four kilograms of cocaine and 25 of pseudoephedrine, a chemical used in the manufacturing of methamphetamine.

Information leading to his arrest came from a lengthy joint investigation between the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of B.C. and Australian Federal Police.

The law enforcement agencies teamed up in 2012 to dismantle an international criminal network involved in the importation, transportation, and distribution of drugs in both Canada and Australia.

Several suspects were arrested in both countries and large amounts of methamphetamine and cocaine were seized.

The case also overlapped with the Surete du Quebec’s Project Loquace, which led to drug importation charges against B.C. gangsters Larry Amero, Shane Maloney and Rabih Alkhalil.

Amero is a Hells Angel with the West Point chapter. Maloney, of Burnaby, is the reputed leader of Montreal’s West End gang. Alkhalil moved from Metro Vancouver to Ontario after two brothers were short to death here.

Amero has applied for bail with a hearing resuming Oct. 1. All three are scheduled to go to trial in 2017.

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