By Canadian Press

Sentencing delayed for N.S. sailboat captain found with stash of cocaine

Jan 25, 2018 | 2:18 PM

HALIFAX — A Nova Scotia sailboat captain who pleaded guilty to two drug charges after 250 kilograms of cocaine were found hidden in his vessel will be back in court next month.

Jacques John Grenier appeared in Halifax provincial court Thursday for a sentencing hearing, but his lawyer Brad Sarson requested an adjournment until Feb. 5.

Sarson told Judge Gregory Lenehan he does not expect there will be a joint recommendation with the Crown for Grenier’s sentence on charges of possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and importing cocaine.

A third charge against Grenier — conspiracy to import cocaine — has yet to be dealt with.

The Hubbards, N.S., man entered the pleas last November after the Canada Border Services Agency boarded the boat in September at a marina near Halifax.

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Grenier, dressed in a collared shirt and blue pants with a buzzcut and grey goatee, sat quietly between two sheriffs during his brief appearance.

“Yes, sir. Thank you,” Grenier, 68, said as he agreed to the adjournment, before being remanded back into custody.

Officers had found several bricks of cocaine hidden inside a sealed bed frame on the Canadian-registered, eight-metre boat called Quesera, which had arrived from the small Caribbean island of Saint Martin.

Another man, Luc Chevrefils of Quebec, is facing charges of possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and conspiracy to import cocaine in relation to the same incident.

Federal Crown lawyer Glen Scheuer, who is prosecuting both cases, said Chevrefils appeared briefly in court Thursday morning and his case was adjourned until Feb. 2. He has not yet entered pleas.

The agency said at the time that it was unusual to find such a large stash in a small boat.

The seizure came after about 200 kilograms of hashish were found hidden inside chocolate bars stacked in a shipping container at the Port of Halifax last May.

Aly Thomson, The Canadian Press