Retired Mountie headed to U.S. prison for smuggling narwhal tusks
BANGOR, Maine — A retired Mountie accused of smuggling narwhal tusks was sentenced Wednesday to five years and two months in a U.S. prison for related money-laundering counts.
Gregory Logan, 60, of Saint John, N.B., smuggled about 300 tusks valued at US$1.5 million to US$3 million into Maine in false compartments in his vehicle, U.S. prosecutors said. They were shipped from a post office box in Ellsworth, Maine, to buyers across the U.S.
Narwhals, protected in the United States and Canada, are known for their spiral tusks that can grow longer than eight feet and are valued for their use in carvings and jewelry-making.
According to the indictment, Logan was working as a Mountie when he began bringing narwhal tusks across the border into the U.S. in 2000. He retired from the police force in 2003.