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Canada - Ex-Vice editor charged with conspiring to smuggle cocaine to Australia; convicted, gets nine years

S.J.B.

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RCMP charge ex-Vice Canada editor with conspiring to smuggle cocaine to Australia
Adrian Humphreys
National Post
February 4th, 2019

The RCMP have charged a former Vice Canada editor and music journalist with conspiring to import large loads of cocaine into Australia, supporting allegations the National Post revealed in 2017. A sales agent for the media company's Toronto operations was also charged.

Yaroslav Pastukhov, 28, who wrote under the names Slava Pastuk and Slava P, had a brief court appearance in Toronto on Monday for a charge of conspiracy to import cocaine. He has a bail hearing scheduled for Wednesday. Vice ended its relationship with Pastukhov in 2016 after some employees raised concerns with management about his actions.

After the Post revealed the allegations against him Pastukhov relocated from Toronto to Montreal and was living under an alias, police said.

Ali Taki Lalji, who worked as a sales account manager at Vice in 2013 and 2014, faces the same charge. He has a first court appearance scheduled for Wednesday. According to his LinkedIn profile he is currently employed as a brand and content manager with The Supreme Cannabis Company, a Toronto-based firm.

The pair was arrested on Jan. 31. The RCMP alleged they arranged for five young people -- four Canadians and an American -- to fly to Sydney, Australia with cocaine hidden in their luggage in December 2015.

Read the full story here.
 
Former Vice editor gets nine years in prison for recruiting young drug mules for massive cocaine smuggling ring
Adrian Humphreys
National Post
December 3rd, 2019
TORONTO — A former high-profile Vice Media music editor who recruited young musicians, models and a former Vice intern to smuggle huge loads of cocaine — hidden in their luggage — on flights to Australia was sentenced to nine years in prison, Tuesday.

Yaroslav Pastukhov, 29, best known under his pen name Slava Pastuk or his online alias Slava P, was found not to be the mastermind of the international plot that ended when four Canadians and one American were caught at Sydney airport with more than $20 million worth of pressed cocaine bricks glued into the lining of their suitcases.

He was, however, found to be directing frontline couriers and organizing and facilitating the network’s Toronto end, along with a co-accused, a judge said.

Ontario Court of Justice Judge Heather Pringle said Pastukhov’s actions were more significant because he “exploited his relationship with these couriers,” several of whom he met through his work at Vice.

She noted that in text messages he sent when he was recruiting drug mules, Pastukhov said one was “too young” but he might still be considered, and that a female courier interested in a free trip to Australia didn’t even need to be told about the hidden cocaine.
Read the full story here.
 
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