SYDNEY, Australia -- Two Canadians living in Australia have received stiff sentences in Sydney for importing drugs into Australia worth almost $254 million.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports on its web site that Mark Clermont, 36, was sentenced to life in jail on Wednesday with no chance of parole for 20 years.
His co-accused, Mathieu Horobjowsky, was sentenced to a 20 years with no parole eligibility for 13 years.
The newspaper said they were found guilty of importing 85.5 kilograms of pure cocaine and 192.8 kilograms of methylamphetamine into Australia inside heavy machinery.
Clermont and Horobjowsky had arrived in Sydney on tourist visas in April 2010, then set up a business importing machiney such as tractors and forklifts.
They were arrested in 2012 after a road roller fitted with lead-lining arrived in Australia containing the concealed drugs.
In passing the sentences, Judge Anthony Garling said Clermont was not addicted to drugs and was "doing this for financial gain and his own greed."
The Globe and Mail, which said Clermont's sentence is expected to be appealed, reported that Clermont's father, Gilles, said his son has been a good citizen and that authorities were trying to make an example of him despite circumstantial evidence.
