U.S. seizes 1,400 pounds of meth aboard boat near Canada-U.S. border

U.S. authorities say they stopped a small boat carrying a large shipment of methamphetamine after they saw it riding low in the water near the Canadian border with Washington state.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said officers stopped the 18-foot (5.5-meter) Bayliner speedboat in the San Juan Islands on Wednesday as it was headed toward Canada.
They reported finding 1,432 pounds (650 kg) of meth on board, packed in 28 duffel bags secured with luggage padlocks.
The boat's occupant, identified as Alberta, Canada, resident Ted Karl Faupel, was arrested on a drug distribution count. He made an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Seattle on Thursday; his attorney, federal public defender Vanessa Pai-Thompson, declined to comment.
According to a federal criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle, Faupel told investigators that he had been hiking near a marina in Sidney, on Vancouver Island, when someone approached him and offered him $1,000 to move a boat from Sidney to Anacortes, Washington, and back.
According to the complaint, he said he left from Vancouver Island on Tuesday. He said four men met him at a Washington State Parks boat dock, took the boat on a trailer and dropped him off at an inn. The next day, they brought him back to the dock and he left in the newly loaded boat to return to Canada.
He said he did not know what was in the duffel bags, the complaint said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'Be prepared for delays at any point': Canada not flying alone in worldwide travel chaos
As Canadian airports deal with their own set of problems amid the busy summer travel season, by no means are they alone.

3 dead, 3 critically wounded in shooting at Denmark mall
A gunman opened fire inside a busy shopping mall in the Danish capital Sunday, killing three people and critically wounding three others, police said.
Shooting at Williams Lake, B.C. stampede injures 2, forces evacuation
Two people are injured and a third is in custody after what RCMP describe as a 'public shooting' at a rodeo in Northern B.C. Sunday.
Dog left with lost baggage at Toronto Pearson Airport for about 21 hours
A Toronto woman says a dog she rescued from the Dominican Republic has been traumatized after being left in a corner of Toronto Pearson International Airport with baggage for about 21 hours.
Alpine glacier chunk detaches, killing at least 6 hikers
A large chunk of an Alpine glacier broke loose Sunday and roared down a mountain in Italy, sending ice, snow and rock slamming into hikers on a popular trail on the peak and killing at least six and injuring nine, authorities said, warning that the toll might climb.
Blue Jays mourn death of first base coach Mark Budzinski's daughter
First base coach Mark Budzinski is taking a leave of absence from the Toronto Blue Jays following the death of his daughter.
'There should have been one': N.S. mother drives son to ER after waiting nearly an hour for ambulance
A Nova Scotia mother says she had to drive her son to hospital herself on Canada Day when no ambulance showed up after more than 40 minutes.
'Cold-adapted' dinosaurs survived mass extinction event to achieve dominance, study finds
A new study has offered what it says is the first physical evidence showing dinosaurs from the Triassic period regularly endured freezing conditions, allowing them to survive and eventually supersede other species on the planet.
Vancouver police service dog named after Calgary police officer
A Vancouver Transit Police service dog has a special connection to the Calgary Police Service.