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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A Yellowknife man who accepted a package of cocaine that arrived from Costa Rica last May was convicted on Wednesday of trafficking cocaine.

Vincent Gosselin, 23, was found guilty by a 12-person jury in an NWT Supreme Court trial that began on jan. 26 and lasted a week.

There were 146.5 grams of cocaine in the package at an approximate street value of $120 per gram, making it worth close to $17,500.

Crown prosecutor Janice Walsh said the jury found Gosselin "either knew what was in the package or was wilfully blind to what was in the package."

Wilful blindness, said Walsh, is a situation when "a reasonable person would ask questions but you deliberately don't because you don't want to know."

She said the maximum sentence Gosselin could receive is life in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 2. Gosselin's defence attorney, Dan Rideout, said he is expecting to have letters of support to submit to the judge prior to sentencing.

On May 26, 2007 RCMP observed three individuals collecting the package but only Gosselin was charged.

The package originated in Costa Rica and was first intercepted by U.S. customs agents in Memphis, Tenn. The Drug Enforcement Agency was made aware and alerted the RCMP. The parcel was then allowed to continue to Yellowknife under close watch from both departments.