BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wanger and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent-in-Charge Anthony Williams announced that on Monday, Senior United States District Judge Oliver W. Wanger sentenced Thai Hoang Nguyen, 32, of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada to eight years in prison for conspiring to purchase and then resell 85 kilograms, or about 187 pounds, of cocaine intended for distribution in Canada.

This case is the product of an Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation by the Bakersfield DEA and Kern County Sheriff’s Office with assistance from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

According to Assistant United States Attorney Karen Escobar, who prosecuted the case, on June 30, 2009, Nguyen pleaded guilty to his involvement in the drug conspiracy. Both he and a co-defendant, Sokha Bhopal, 50, of Valencia, Calif., negotiated with an undercover officer in Bakersfield to buy 85 kilograms of cocaine for over $1.4 million.

Nguyen then obtained $1,253,500 in cash from his “accountant” in Los Angeles and brought the cash to a hotel in Santa Clarita, where he, Bhopal, and codefendants Vath Lim, 35, of El Monte, Calif., and Davinder Singh, 41, of Delta, British Columbia met and drove to Bakersfield to deliver the money to the undercover officer.

The cash and another $106,806 from a bank account maintained by Bhopal have been forfeited as drug proceeds by the DEA.

At sentencing, Judge Wanger rejected Nguyen’s claim that he was a mere courier who served a minor role and found based on the evidence that Nguyen was “an active participant” in the conspiracy.

During negotiations with the undercover officer, Nguyen’s co-conspirators indicated that they needed 100 kilograms of cocaine on a weekly basis to ship to Canada.

Singh, who also pleaded guilty, is scheduled for sentencing January 19, 2010.

Lim received a five-year sentence for assisting in the transportation of the money.

Bhopal is scheduled for a jury trial in federal court in Fresno in February.

As a result of this and a similar operation in Bakersfield also involving Canadian citizens attempting to purchase cocaine for distribution in Canada, the DEA and Kern County Sheriff’s Office have seized over $2.4 million in drug-related proceeds.