Canadian Bike Cops Nab One of America's Most Wanted

Katay-Khaophone Sychanta may face extradition to US
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 29, 2017 10:37 AM CDT
Canadian Bike Cops Nab One of America's Most Wanted
Katay-Khaophone Sychanta   (US Immigration and Custom Enforcement)

Montreal police have just earned a heap of respect for bicycle cops everywhere. Two cycling police officers were patrolling a Montreal bike path last Wednesday when they spotted two men they suspected of having drugs, police say. The suspects took off running and the officers pursued, one eventually jumping off his bike and chasing the men on foot, reports CBC News. The effort paid off when both suspects were caught near a train station. But it was only later during fingerprinting that police officers realized exactly what they'd accomplished, per CTV News. One of the men captured was Katay-Khaophone Sychanta, 35, who held a spot on the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's list of the top 10 most wanted criminals.

The Laos-born man—who also had a Canada-wide warrant out for his arrest, per the Canadian Press—is accused of running an Ontario-based drug smuggling operation that "supplied millions of ecstasy pills and hundreds of pounds of marijuana to several distributors located in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Massachusetts, Georgia, and New York," the ICE says, per the Montreal Gazette. Sychanta, who was considered armed and dangerous, had also made threats against law enforcement officials, per the ICE. He was arraigned Thursday on charges of drug possession, obstructing police work, and possessing counterfeit documents, per a police report. He's now in the custody of Ontario Provincial Police and may face extradition to the US, per the CBC. (More Canada stories.)

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