An Alberta Mennonite has been sentenced after being found guilty of smuggling cocaine from Mexico into Canada.

Jacob Fehr of Peace River, Alta., grew up in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. He told investigators he transported the drugs because a cartel threatened his family. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported a Calgary judge didn’t believe his defense and sentenced Fehr to seven years in prison April 25.

According to Fehr, he took a loan of $30,000 from a neighbor when his corn crop was failing six years ago. When he couldn’t pay it back, Fehr said creditors forced him to make three trips to Alberta to deliver cocaine. On the third trip, with his wife and four daughters in the car in January 2011, Canadian border agents discovered two kilograms of cocaine worth $200,000.

“He took his family down on a number of occasions,” said prosecutor Frank Polak. “Based on the fact that the evidence showed at trial that he was purchasing land down there, all that did not ring true.”

In another case, Abram Klas­sen and Jacob Dyck of Lethbridge face similar charges after they were caught with 16 kilograms of cocaine at the Canadian border.