A burgeoning Canadian musician who was caught trying to smuggle nearly 40 kilograms of cocaine into the country has pleaded guilty to importing a commercial quantity of drugs.
Jordan Gardner – one-half of electric duo Ebony – is one of five people who will be sentenced next month after being arrested at Sydney airport in December 2015.
While previous reports stemming from a Change.org petition claimed that Gardner was "allegedly badgered and violently threatened" into the attempted smuggling, ABC reports that prosecutor Dimitrios Kapeleris said the fact they were “drug mules” shouldn’t diminish their sentencing.
"Each played an important part as a cog in the wheel, without which trade in narcotics could not operate," Kapeleris said at a sentencing hearing yesterday.
In the same hearing, the court heard that the musician was caught with 4.6 kilograms of cocaine and was expecting to make $10,000 from the trip.
Gardner will be sentenced on October 13 alongside three others involved and US model Nathaniel Carty.
