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Jimmy Cournoyer, a Laval native who came to notoriety in New York for operating as a prolific drug smuggler while leading a lavish lifestyle, was sentenced to a 27-year prison term in the United States on Wednesday.

The sentence comes at the end of a case that began in 2012 when Cournoyer, dubbed “the King of Pot” and a “pot playboy,” was arrested while trying to enter Mexico. He was later brought to New York, the state where he sold much of the 109,000 kilos of pot he smuggled into the U.S. from Canada.

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The U.S. attorney had requested Cournoyer serve at least 30 years; his defence lawyer, Gerald McMahon, asked for 20 years, the mandatory minimum for some of the charges Cournoyer pleaded guilty to in 2013.

The possibility of Cournoyer returning to Canada to serve his sentence was a much-discussed issue from both sides of the case. U.S. attorney Loretta Lynch had asked that Cournoyer serve at least a 30-year sentence because Canada’s Corrections and Conditional Release Act would significantly reduce the amount of time he will actually serve behind bars.