Canadian charged with smuggling Ecstasy to SoCal





ASSOCIATED PRESS

6:05 p.m. June 30, 2008

LOS ANGELES – A Canadian man was charged in federal court Monday with smuggling $2 million worth of Ecstasy into the United States, authorities said.
Alexandru Sabau, 37, was arrested near his apartment in Newport Beach after he arrived for a roadside meeting to finalize a drug deal with an informant, Jennifer Silliman, deputy special agent in charge of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Los Angeles airport office said.


Investigators found in the trunk of Sabau's rental car 100,000 Ecstasy tablets, which he intended to trade for 25 kilograms of cocaine, Silliman said. The pills typically sell for $20 each on the street, she said.
“We believe this individual was seeking to bring significant quantities of Ecstasy into Southern California from Canada, which he told our informants he intended to use as collateral to obtain caches of cocaine for export back to Canada,â€