Early on the morning of Thursday, Sug. 20, 2009, Glen Ehler and Quentin Deering sat in a blue Chevy Venture. They were on a stakeout, waiting for the call.
Their target? A former federal officer, who had turned rogue and was now running an international smuggling operation.
Whilst this sounds like a story fit for movies or the TV screen, the situation gets more unusual. Ehler and Deering were sitting by an entrance to Highway 102 in the suburbs of Highway 102, preparing to follow a narwhal tusk smuggler, Gregory Logan.
A retired RCMP officer, Logan had fallen into illicit wildlife smuggling of animal parts. Previously, he had a career where he spent many years in Nunavut, until he was forced to retire due to numerous physical injuries and a diagnosis for PTSD.
Now, he makes a living illegally smuggling narwhal tusks and other animal parts into the USA, which has an import ban on animal products, to buyers. Between 2003 and 2009, he sold an estimated 250 narwhal tusks for $700,000.
The origins of Operation Longtooth can be traced back to 2004 when the U.S. fish and wildlife service discovered a package of 548 sperm whale teeth being illegally smuggled into the USA.
They linked back to Logan, and after years of investigation on Feb. 1, 2014, Logan was sentenced to four months of house arrest and was also ordered to pay a fine of $385,000 (the largest ever, which also happened to be his total profits from his sales). As of writing, he faced further charges in the USA, which were being petitioned by his lawyer.
Read more about the incredible Operation Longtooth investigation and the massive operation required to stop wildlife part trafficking « Operation Longtooth » by David Hayes in Canadian WIldlife magazine, Nov + Dec 2015 edition.