Pubdate: Fri, 21 Nov 2008 Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC) Copyright: 2008 The Vancouver Sun Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477 Author: Kim Bolan, Staff Writer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?188 (Outlaw Bikers) ABBOTSFORD MAN ADMITS ROLE IN DRUG SMUGGLING Father Says Devron Quast Was A Fall Guy For Kingpins Who Haven't Been Caught Abbotsford car dealer Don Quast wants the kingpins behind the drug ring that brought his son down to face justice. "The guys that are behind it are always the guys who get away with it," Quast said Thursday after learning his son Devron had pleaded guilty in a Seattle courtroom to drug trafficking and money laundering."That's what bugs me. They set up these buffer guys and find fall guys, and the bigwigs, nothing happens to them. That is the unfortunate part." Quast said his family, including Devron's wife and two daughters, has been devastated since the 38-year-old was arrested in Washington state last June with an alleged associate of the Hells Angels. Devron Quast and Robert J. Shannon were caught in an undercover sting that had them meeting a suspected drug contact in a Ferndale burger joint who was really a police agent. RCMP said Shannon, who has yet to go to trial, is an associate of three different B.C. chapters of the notorious biker club. Don Quast said his son must face the music for his actions, which will bring him a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years. "It just drives me nuts. I mean, I love my son. Morally, I am there for him, but I can't condone what he did either," the elder Quast said. "There is just no explaining the feeling. It has changed our lives forever. It has changed his. He knows he did wrong and was trying to be a man about it and said, 'I will do what I have to do.'" The U.S. Attorney's office said Devron Quast admitted to involvement in smuggling more than 30,000 kilos of B.C. marijuana into the United States as part of the drug ring. He pleaded guilty to both conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana and conspiracy to engage in money-laundering, charges that stemmed from a three-year cross-border investigation that saw a total of 40 suspects nabbed, including 12 Canadians. The probe resulted in the seizure of more than 1,700 pounds of cocaine, 7,000 pounds of B.C. pot and about $3.5 million. Court documents filed in the case said the sophisticated scheme involved hiding drugs inside hollowed-out logs on trucks, within the false walls of cargo containers and vehicles, within loads of commercial lumber, inside large PVC pipes and in the interior of a propane tanker. Some of the illicit loads were carried across the border by willing foot soldiers. The U.S. Attorney said the younger Quast oversaw the day-to-day operations of the drug transporting, even providing insurance to the B.C. marijuana suppliers that drugs would be successfully smuggled into the U.S. The whole time he was running the drug ring, Quast was working as the general manager of Don Quast Hyundai in Abbotsford. Another Quast Hyundai employee, Phillip Stone, also pleaded guilty this week to conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana as part of the same ring. Last June, Stone told The Vancouver Sun he had "nothing to do with any of this." But now he has admitted to obtaining containers and trailers to transport the B.C. Bud across the border. John Fairweather, 52, who was arrested at a Washington warehouse where Quast had been storing the drugs, pleaded guilty to the same charge. Both men are to be sentenced early next year. U.S. authorities allege Shannon, a Maple Ridge resident, was "in charge of distributing the narcotics on behalf of the Hells Angels Outlaw Motorcycle gang and others." Shannon and Richard Jansen, of Chilliwack, are due to go to trial in February. Jansen, owner of Scorpion Transport Services, allegedly assisted the organization by driving his trucks across the border to facilitate smuggling. Police had been recording Devron Quast's telephone calls to their agent, including one made about a "hot load" that would be ready for delivery to the U.S. on June 5 and taken to the warehouse where Fairweather and Jansen were later arrested. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin