Adjournment in record drug seizure case

By Delon Shurtz - Lethbridge Herald on January 12, 2022.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

The lawyer for a Calgary man accused of trying to smuggle millions of dollars worth of drugs into Alberta  expects to raise a Charter issue when the case finally goes to trial.
Calgary lawyer Allan Fay told a judge Monday in Lethbridge Court of Queen’s Bench, his Charter motion – alleging a breach of a provision of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms – will seek to exclude statements his client made to border officers after he was detained at the Coutts border crossing two years ago.
Amapreet Singh Sandhu had been ordered last month following his preliminary hearing to stand trial on charges of drug smuggling and drug possession for the purpose of trafficking. He was scheduled to be arraigned Monday and have trial dates set, but the matter was adjourned until Feb. 28.
The charges relate to a record haul of methamphetamine officers with the Canada Border Services Agency uncovered at the Coutts border on Christmas Day of 2020.
Officers referred a semi-truck hauling produce for further inspection, and while examining the shipment found 228 kilograms of methamphetamine. The CBSA reported the drugs were worth about $28.5 million on the street and are equivalent to 2.28 million individual dosages.
The agency said at the time, the bust was the largest seizure of methamphetamine at a land border crossing in Canada.
“It is because of CBSA officers’ diligence while screening essential goods that this record amount of methamphetamine did not reach our streets or cause harm to our communities,” Ben Tame, CBSA southern Alberta director, said in a news release following the drug bust.

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