Suspected underwater drug smuggler runs from feds, found floating in Detroit River with 265 lbs of marijuana
DETROIT, MICHIGAN - MARCH 18: Aerial drone view of the Ambassador Bridge that connects Detroit and Windsor, Canada on March 18, 2020 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
DETROIT (FOX 2) - A Canadian man who was caught with almost $100,000 and then ran from federal authorities was found unconscious in the Detroit River while hauling almost 300 pounds of marijuana.
Glen Mousseau, 49, of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, was first arrested in early May. According to the probable cause, Mousseau was stopped while driving a U-Haul in St. Clair County on May 10.
During the stop, deputies reported finding a large plastic bag with $97,060 in cash. Mousseau said he didn't know who it belonged to and was taken to the county jail.
Once there, Mousseau said he illegally had entered the U.S. from Canada and said that he directs a smuggling operation that moves money and drugs between the two countries. He also admitted to moving marijuana, cocaine, or cash roughly seven times.
According to the affidavit, Mousseau said he was scouting a location to smuggle the currency he had when he was stopped. He said he gives GPS coordinates to someone in Canada who crosses the Detroit River with a submersible watercraft. Mousseau said he would then send the drugs or currency back with his associate across the river.
Mousseau also said that one of his submersible watercraft was seized by the Border Patrol on April 23 on Zug Island.
During the interview, he gave authorities permission to search his two cell phones which resulted in conversations with different people regarding GPS coordinates on the shoreline. The indictment says these locations are known as popular maritime smuggling locations.
Mousseau said he expected to take receive more narcotics that he was being paid to smuggle into Canda from the U.S. but the drugs were never delivered.
Mousseau was eventually released and told police he would stay at the Baymont Hotel in Flat Rock as they investigated. On May 21 Mousseau advised a Homeland Security agent that he would have information about a multiple kilogram shipment of methamphetamine arriving in Detroit the next day.
At 6 a.m. on May 22, Mousseau was spotted leaving the hotel. Hotel employees said he contacted them and asked them to clean his room and pack his belongings as he would be traveling for an emergency funeral and would not return for several days.
That same day, he also stopped his regular contact with Homeland Security agents. When they reached out to the hotel, the staff said the properties were considered abandoned and turned it all over the federal agents.
In the search, federal agents said they found 5 cell phones and a laptop. But they also said they found a dry suit, used by scuba divers to keep the wearer dry and warm in cold water conditions. They also said they found Canadian identification documents, including a passport, that were reported stolen in January 2019.
Almost two weeks later, on June 5, Border Patrol Agents on patrol found a vessel had crossed the border and they tried to stop it. That's when the agents saw two large bundles being throw into the water.
When the agents approached the bundles, they found a man, later identified as Mousseau, floating unconscious in the water.
He was pulled from the water and agents determined he was tied to the bundles with a tow strap. The bundles were identified as marijuana and weighed in at roughly 265 pounds total.
Mousseau had previously been deported from the U.S. in December 1995.
He's currently being held in a federal custody on possession with intent to distribute marijuana, bulk cash smuggling, and illegal entry to the U.S.