BANGOR, Maine – A retired RCMP officer accused of smuggling narwhal tusks across the border pleaded guilty Wednesday in a U.S. court to 10 money-laundering counts.

Prosecutors said Gregory Logan, 59, of Saint John, N.B., smuggled 250 tusks valued at $1.5 million to $3 million into Maine in false compartments in his vehicle.

Narwhals are medium-sized whales known for spiral tusks that can grow longer than 2.5 metres. They are protected by the U.S. and Canada.

Logan, who was a Mountie when he began bringing the tusks into the U.S., faces up to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine for each count.

Logan was originally charged with smuggling, conspiracy and money laundering.

He pleaded guilty in Canada to a related wildlife smuggling crime, and terms of his extradition limited U.S. charges to money laundering.

Prosecutors say Logan kept a post office box at a shipping store in Ellsworth, Maine, where the tusks were shipped to U.S. buyers, and maintained a bank account in Bangor, Maine, to aid in funnelling money back to Canada.

Logan was originally charged along with two U.S. residents.

Andrew Zarauskas, of Union, N.J., was convicted and sentenced to 33 months. Charges against Jay Conrad, of Lakeland, Tenn., were dismissed.

Logan, who retired from the RCMP in 2003, served four months of home detention and paid a $350,000 fine in Canada.