A Canadian sailor who was caught off the Colombian coast smuggling 881 pounds of cocaine claims there is “nothing wrong with cocaine trafficking” and U.S. authorities should “mind their own business,” Canadian newspaper the Vancouver Sun reported Tuesday.
According to the newspaper, John Philip Stirling, 60, was arrested aboard a sailboat with two fellow Canadians, one Italian and a Colombian on October 17 and is currently being held in Miami on drug trafficking charges.
“The Master,” as Stirling introduced himself to the authorities, has been arrested twice on similar charges, in 2001 and 2006. He also served a five years prison sentence between 1990 and 1995.
While being transferred to Miami, “Stirling remarked that there was nothing wrong with cocaine trafficking and that the United States should mind its own business,” according to U.S. court documents obtained by the newspaper. “He further remarked that if Canada didn’t have such high taxes, [he and his coaccused] could get legitimate jobs.”
The Canadian allegedly attempted to smuggle cocaine for the Hell’s Angels in the early 2000s.
