Canadian drug couriers with alleged ties to ex-Vice Canada editor sentenced in Australia

TORONTO and SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA — Three Canadians and an American have been sentenced to prison in Australia after cocaine worth more than $20 million was found in their luggage. All four had ties to a former Vice Canada editor who was named in a Sydney court as a recruiter for a transnational drug-smuggling operation, according to evidence presented in court. At a sentencing hearing that concluded Friday, court heard that Yaroslav Pastukhov, 27 — better known by his pen names Slava Pastuk and Slava P. — was a central figure in recruiting young drug mules, promising to use his position in the Vice media empire to boost their budding careers — or, court heard, to destroy them.-- More...