Dru Posted March 5, 2005 Posted March 5, 2005 Horse breeder arrested with five suitcases containing cocaine worth $34 million US By Darren McDonald A Chilliwack businessman was arrested in Washington State with 169 kilograms (372 lb.) of cocaine worth $34 million US. According to an article in Thursday's Vancouver Sun, Douglas Bryan Spink, 33, was arrested Monday after police found the drugs inside his rented SUV near Monroe, Wash. Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents requested the vehicle's search after trailing it from the U.S.-Canada border crossing at Sumas to Everett, where they allege Spink picked up five suitcases filled with cocaine which originally came from a man with suspected drug-smuggling connections. Spink used to run a golden retriever business with his wife in North Plains, Ore., before he moved to Canada a few years ago. In addition to a Maple Ridge mailing address, Spink is said to have a horse breeding farm in Chilliwack, but its address is listed as 46030 Yale Road-which belongs to Salish Plaza. A phone call to the business 1-800 number was not returned by Thursday's press deadline. Const. Steve Hiscoe said police know Spink lives in the area, but he won't say if an investigation is underway in connection with this week's drug seizure. "We're aware of him," Hiscoe said. He wouldn't elaborate on whether the RCMP's interest in Spink stemmed from this week's arrest or from previous activities. Spink is known as being personally and professionally adventurous. Six years ago he closed a $27-million deal selling catalogues to a national sports store chain. He filed for bankruptcy a few years later. His passion for sports included running ultramarathons, kickboxing, rock climbing and parachuting from tall buildings, cliffs and radio towers. - with files from Mike Chouinard I have a strong suspicion this is a cc.commer. No joke. Quote
Dr_Flash_Amazing Posted March 5, 2005 Posted March 5, 2005 Dr. Flash Amazing has it on good authority that you could possibly be right. Quote
chucK Posted March 6, 2005 Posted March 6, 2005 How does getting arrested help fund a climbing trip? Quote
jmace Posted March 6, 2005 Posted March 6, 2005 didnt some one tell him hes bringing the drugs the wrong way? isnt it weed for coke?? if yu cant hold on to some loot after doing a 27 mill deal, you have some problems. Quote
Dru Posted March 7, 2005 Author Posted March 7, 2005 no, the base jumping part was the tipoff, that and the chilliwack address. Quote
Bogen Posted March 7, 2005 Posted March 7, 2005 Any reason for your secrecy, Dru? He didn't hide his personal identity here. He seems like a nice guy, but I doubt there's net access inside, so we probably won't hear from him for a while... Quote
Roger Posted March 8, 2005 Posted March 8, 2005 no, the base jumping part was the tipoff, that and the chilliwack address. not to mention the link to a horse breeding business in his signature line... wow. Quote
JayB Posted March 8, 2005 Posted March 8, 2005 Not to mention the name associated with the said horse-breeding business. Damn. What a shame that he chose to go down that path. One does not, I venture, happen to end up with 169 kilograms of cocaine in one's posession as the result of a momentary lapse of judgement. I never would have imagined that someone who showed the kind of soul, compassion, and insight that he evinced in some of his posts would have chosen such a path. The high risk, high reward part fits. The morally dubious, spiritually cheap aspect doesn't. I have zero sympathy for cokeheads, junkies, meth addicts. They dig their own grave. I'm just suprised that he'd be one of the guys lining up to sell them the shovel. I guess when there's a significant chance that you'll die every time you indulge in your most compelling pasttime, you tend to look at the risks associated with certain choices a bit differently. Who knows. Anyhow - here's one D-Dog's posts that, for me, illustrates many of the traits that seem to be an odd fit with the story that's emerged in the news recently. After reading it, I couldn't help but imagine that he'd be one of the guys working to reduce the sum-total of misery in the world, rather than taking his place amongst those profiting from its expansion. "I'm late to this conversation, but I thought I'd throw a few cents in nonetheless. For 15 years, my focus athletically was climbing. I went through the phase of invincibility others have described, and fell in love with free soloing for several years. Did some scary trad leads that were not much below my technical ability on toprope, and came very, very close to serious injuries more than a few times. Broke some bones, nothing major. However, can't really say I ever got truly, truly scared in climbing. Temporary panic, sure. Deep-seated, long-term fear? Not really; I was always able to shake off an epic pretty easily. When I started BASE jumping a few years ago, I came to know fear much better. In the last few months, I've watched one jumper die in front of me and lost a good friend in another incident. Since I started jumping, I've discovered forms and elements of fear I never found in my climbing experience. For me, now, fear is the following: what are the consequences of a worst-case scenario, and am I willing to pay that price? In BASE, serious problems of any flavor generally mean death or very, very bad injuries. Walking away from a BASE mishap with a few broken anlkes is lucky. A broken back is medium-scale. Permanent disability or brain damage is bad. Death is really bad. "Justified fear is a shrewd advisor" - John Long, aka Largo Fear is good when it warns us of the potential consequences of failure. And, if we do something enough, failure WILL happen. Are we ready to deal with the consequences of failure in a given situation? If we aren't physically, mentally, and emotionally prepared to deal with those consequences, then I think our fear steps in to shut us down and prevent us from playing the game any more. That is a blessing, really. When we get hurt, badly or even not that badly, I think we get a deeper understanding of those consequences. Thinking about broken bones is one thing, dealing with them (and the lifetime decrease in functionality that often comes with them post-recovery) is something entirely different. Thinking about death is one thing; seeing it firsthand, living it, is different. I still jump, and I still run out stuff where falling would be really, really bad. But I do so only when my heart is in it. Sometimes, my heart just isn't in a given jump, or a given route. Then, I don't do it. I've made peace with my fears; a decade ago, I didn't really "have" fears, per se. I just didn't give a shit about the consequences of my actions as a climber. If I died, so what? Life went on. Now, I'm older and I know what happens when somebody dies. They don't suffer, really, but their lived ones, friends, and dependents do. When you "go in" in BASE (i.e. die), ripples of shock go out through the world like coencentric circles. Those waves resonate for a long, long time. As Duncan Ferguson has said (I paraphrase), one must embrace fear, not hide from it. When we are at peace with our fear, and at peace with the risks we take, we can take those risks with open eyes and an open heart. When we lack that peace, our fear holds us back - as it should. Some fears are unjustified (for the most part): falling a few feet onto good bolts on a steep sport route. Risk is quite low, like riding a roller-coaster. It is "scary" because the body feeling is novel and exciting, not because of true danger. Some fears, in contrast, are real: scrambling on exposed, loose rock in alpine gulleys IS risky, and a small mistake (or just bad luck) can result in very bad injury or death. Learn to discern between justified fear, of the kind Largo mentions, and unjustified fear. Enjoy the latter, it is a cheap thrill and fun to overcome and battle in safe situations. Heed the former, it tells us when we are near the line - or over it. The only person truly without fear is the man who honestly has nothing to lose. Those of us who have come to cherish things in this world, I believe, come to know fear that is not meant to be ignored. When this happens, I think it best to make peace with this fear and heed its message. Some risks are real. Some prices for failure are very, very high. http://juliabell.home.att.net/ Peace, D-d0g -------------------- D-d0g / BASE 715 / Fausty Hengststation Exitpoint" This post was in response to the following: "Alright, looking for some assistance here, as I'm sure I'm not alone in this... Several years back, I had a climbing accident, took a grounder from what was essentially death-fall height. Since then, I essentially shake on lead to some extent. This fear response can then affect me mentally, thus shutting me down with a cascadng effect of bad visions, defeatest thoughts, anger/frustration. Not to say that I have good days - I've still climbed hard, and often. It's too much a part of me, I've been climbing over 15 years, and I ain't walking away. I love so much of the sport - the challenge, the camaraderie, the places, the stories we generate. But this fear and the accompanying lack of self confidence keeps me from setting big goals, seriously hurt my consistency as a climber, makes me hesitate to ask partners to do long routes, as I may not be able to swing leads, and generally keeps me feeling like I may be a burden on my partners (a somewhat false image, but let's go with it for now.) The issue here is either how do I suppress that fear response, or replace it with another response that allows me to keep moving without the concern of the fall as a consequence? I've read a bit, had some professional help, including a bit of EMDR therapy, which has shown success with PTSD sufferers - I had some small breakthroughs with it, but the effectiveness seems to have worn off a bit. So, who else has done work on this, and how do you cope with the fear inherant with the sport? Dammit, I want to do hard slab again. Anyway, any sincere advice, referrals, or experiences are greatly." Quote
Roger Posted March 8, 2005 Posted March 8, 2005 One does not, I venture, happen end up with 169 kilograms of cocaine in one's posession as the result of a momentary lapse of judgement. nope - sounds like it was a way to pay off some serious debt, and keep up the lifestyle... Oregonian article Quote
Winter Posted March 8, 2005 Posted March 8, 2005 (edited) Whoa. He and I attended the same private academy of privilege in Pittsburgh. I remember him in middle school, a couple of years older than I was. Put together his avatar here with his name back then a year or so ago. Sad story. Edited March 8, 2005 by Winter Quote
specialed Posted March 8, 2005 Posted March 8, 2005 Just from reading that Oregonian article, Spinks will have a decent constitutional argument as to the stop of his trailer in Monroe. Its pretty clear from the facts that the police pulled him over for the drugs, but justified their stop on his speeding 5 mph over. Pretext stops are unconstitutional under the state constitution, and any "fruit" of that stop would be thrown out. Quote
Roger Posted March 8, 2005 Posted March 8, 2005 wouldn't they have had probable cause to pull him over independent of the speeding based on his previous behavior, and the fact that they just watched him load five suitcases in his truck from a known drug dealer? Quote
Dru Posted March 8, 2005 Author Posted March 8, 2005 So he crossed the border into the USA, and then picked up the drugs? I thought the whole point of drug smuggling was getting it across the border Quote
specialed Posted March 8, 2005 Posted March 8, 2005 wouldn't they have had probable cause to pull him over independent of the speeding based on his previous behavior, and the fact that they just watched him load five suitcases in his truck from a known drug dealer? That would be their argument. But it sounded like from the news story they justified the search and seizure by the speeding. I think you'd look at the police reports, etc. to make the argument they justified their search at the time by his speeding, not the other factors. Washington also has the inevitable discovery doctrine which say the state can be justified in searching and seizing without a search warrant if they could have gotten one with some more time under certain circumstances. Quote
JayB Posted March 8, 2005 Posted March 8, 2005 Anyone know what happens to Americans apprehended while committing felonies in Canada and vice-versa? Quote
JayB Posted March 8, 2005 Posted March 8, 2005 Plugging D-Dog's name into Google certainly turns up some interesting stuff.... http://www.corporate-law.widener.edu/doc...ink%20Portland' Quote
specialed Posted March 8, 2005 Posted March 8, 2005 Theoretically you'd be under the jurisdiction of the place you committed the crime. However, I read in an article about the drug trade b/w Canada and the US that many Canadians arrested here are sent back to Canada after a year serving time here, and are given lighter sentences there since Canada is way chiller about drug crimes. Quote
JayB Posted March 8, 2005 Posted March 8, 2005 http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/05/03/04/100loc_drugarrest001.cfm More reading. Sounds like he was a US citizen residing in Canada so I suspect that he'll be staying south of the border. Quote
Dru Posted March 8, 2005 Author Posted March 8, 2005 Anyone know what happens to Americans apprehended while committing felonies in Canada and vice-versa? but he is an American resident in Canada who was arrested in the US Quote
Winter Posted March 8, 2005 Posted March 8, 2005 I wonder who's money he used to buy the coke and whether they have connections on the inside. Someone should pay him $38 million for the screen play rights. Quote
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