Photo: Contributed

Kevin Kerfoot was sentenced to 13 years in jail for drug smuggling. 

A Surrey man convicted of leading a cocaine and ecstasy smuggling ring has been sentenced to 13 year in a U.S. prison, a year after a key witness in his case was shot eight times in West Kelowna. 

U.S. Attorney Annette Hayes says 53-year-old Kevin Kerfoot organized an operation to smuggle 41 kilograms of cocaine to Canada from Washington state in 2005.

Kerfoot was indicted in July 2006, nine months after others involved in the operation were arrested in the Bellingham, Wash., area while attempting to get the cocaine on a boat to Canada.

The boat operator was also bringing more than seven kilograms of ecstasy into the U.S. for distribution through Kerfoot's drug network.

Kerfoot fought extradition from Canada for more than a decade but eventually exhausted his options, leading him to plead guilty in U.S. court in April.

Other members of the smuggling ring, including the boat operator, were sentenced to prison terms ranging three years to more than six years, but have since been released for serving their time.

The boat operator, Reginald Purdom, was a key witness in the case against Kerfoot before the guilty plea in April. 

In August 2016, Purdom was shot eight times in his chest, leg and hand by a man riding a bicycle, while driving in West Kelowna. He survived the shooting. 

Two weeks before the shooting, Kerfoot lost his B.C. Court of Appeal bid to halt his extradition to the U.S.

"This defendant tried to avoid facing the music by getting people to lie during his Canadian extradition proceedings," said Hayes.

"Perhaps he thought he could fight a war of attrition - but this office and our law enforcement partners are committed to holding leaders of drug trafficking organizations responsible for the poison they spread both here and in Canada."

The man accused in the West Kelowna shooting, 29-year-old Tyrone McGee, remains in custody, and is scheduled to next appear in Kelowna Supreme Court in March. 

- with files from The Canadian Press