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American prison for Okanagan drug smuggler

Sean William Doak/Faceboook.

A Vernon man has been handed a lengthy prison sentence for smuggling huge quantities of illegal drugs back and forth between B.C. and the United States.

Sean William Doak, 42, was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court in Seattle to seven years behind bars.

Doak was the leader of a smuggling ring that transported MDMA and marijuana into the states and brought cocaine into Canada.

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In a news release, the Department of Justice states: “At today’s sentencing U.S. District Judge Robert S. Lasnik noted that the drugs trafficked by DOAK’s organization damaged users and fed addiction across the U.S. and Canada. The judge asked DOAK how he could reconcile his position as a supportive family man, with the damage he had done to other families with his drug trafficking.”

Over a one year period beginning in March 2008, U.S. authorities seized 175 kilograms of cocaine, 348 kilograms of marijuana and 240,000 MDMA pills.

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The drugs were smuggled across the border by truckers, hikers, snowmobilers and helicopter pilots.

Doak was operating his illegal operation while on work release for a Canadian drug conviction.

A Shuswap man is also charged in connection with the same smuggling ring.

Colin Hugh Martin is currently fighting attempts to have him extradited to the U.S. for trial.

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