Couple pleads guilty in Windsor to big cocaine, meth conspiracy

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A Toronto couple on Friday pleaded guilty to a multimillion-dollar conspiracy to import and then traffic in large quantities of cocaine and meth.

The quantities discovered in totes in a commercial truck at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor and then also at a North York home — over half a tonne in total — were “insane,” one of the defence lawyers told the Star.

CBSA border officials and RCMP investigators seized 300 kilograms of cocaine from a truck inspected after entering Canada on March 4, 2023. Following initial investigation, the truck driver was deemed to be innocent — hauling otherwise legitimate cargo — and was released from custody three weeks later.

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The suspected intended recipients of the shipment were placed under police surveillance. Executing a vehicle stop in Toronto, RCMP officers arrested Marvin Watson, 31, and seized another 120 kg of cocaine from his vehicle.

Using a court warrant to subsequently search the North York home he shared with common law spouse Maria Kiguru, 33, police said they seized more drugs in the garage, including 100 kg of meth and two kg of MDMA (commonly known as ecstasy).

In a news release last November, the RCMP credited a broad joint policing effort on both sides of the border for the arrests and seizure of about 520 kg in illicit drugs with an estimated street value of $13 million.

Out on bail and living separately with their sureties at Toronto area homes, Watson and Kiguru, via Zoom, entered guilty pleas on Friday before Superior Court Justice Paul Howard.

While Kiguru “participated willingly,” federal drug prosecutor Surinder Aujla described her role as minor, with Watson “the operating mind” behind the trafficking conspiracy. The two, both Canadian citizens, got married in March.

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Originally facing multiple criminal counts, Kiguru pleaded guilty to a single count of “laundering the proceeds of crime.” Agreeing to a joint submission from the Crown and defence, the judge sentenced the mother of two, who had no prior criminal record, to a two-year conditional sentence that includes eight months of house arrest.

Watson, who also had no prior record, pleaded guilty to five counts, including importing drugs and possession for the purpose of trafficking, as well as conspiracy to commit an indictable offence and laundering the proceeds of crime. He’ll be sentenced in January, with both the Crown and his lawyer, Frank Retar, telling the Star he’s facing a substantial penitentiary term in “double-digit” years.

The Crown described the couple’s crime as deliberate, complex and sophisticated, but it also said the judge should take into consideration as a mitigating factor in sentencing that their guilty pleas showed remorse and saved the court system “significant resources” by not having to proceed to trial.

In summarizing the case at Friday’s hearing, the Crown said over a quarter-million dollars in purchases, using “unknown sources of income,” were handled by the couple over the short period they were investigated. The white Dodge Ram Watson was driving at the time — using “multiple licence plates” — was paid for with $42,500 in cash.

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Fellow federal drug prosecutor Sarah Virani listed a number of bank transactions in the thousands of dollars each, many of them involving stacks of $20 bills.

“We agree with those facts,” Retar told the court.

As part of Kiguru’s house arrest sentence, the judge has permitted her to visit her husband in the penitentiary every second weekend.

Despite the large volume of drugs and cash transactions described in court, Retar told the Star that the couple’s home is rented and modest and that they didn’t live extravagantly.

dschmidt@postmedia.com

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