Ontario man named on ICE Top 10 Most Wanted list

DETROIT – An Ontario man is the latest fugitive to be added to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Most Wanted list. ICE is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading directly to the man’s arrest.

In October 2013, Khaophone Sychantha, 32, aka Kao, whose last known residence was Lakeshore, Ontario, was charged in a four-count federal indictment with distribution of a controlled substance following an ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) probe.

According to public records in Canada and the United States, Sychantha, a dual citizen of Canada and Laos, is the suspected ring leader of a drug-smuggling organization which supplied millions of Ecstasy pills and hundreds of pounds of marijuana to several distributors located in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Massachusetts, Georgia, and New York.

Sychantha has also allegedly directed individuals to smuggle millions in bulk cash, guns, cocaine and heroin from the United States into Canada. He absconded before formally answering to the October distribution charges.

Although Sychantha was last living in the Lakeshore, Ontario-area, he has been known to maintain residences in other parts of Ontario including Windsor, LaSalle and Toronto. Sychantha also has strong ties to the United States in Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, and abroad in Mexico, Laos, Hong Kong and Thailand, but authorities believe he may still be residing in the Midwest or southern Ontario.

HSI requests anyone with information about this person contact the agency immediately, in one of two ways:

• Call the HSI Tip Line, which is staffed 24 hours a day.
  • (866) 347-2423 from the United States & Canada
  • (802) 872-6199 from anywhere in the world
• Complete an online tip form at www.ice.gov/tips

All tips will remain anonymous.

Law enforcement authorities urge the public not to intervene if they come into contact with Sychantha.