Brampton Man Gets 20-Year U.S. Prison Term for Cross-Border Drug Smuggling

A 63-year-old Ontario resident was sentenced to two decades in American federal custody for running an operation that moved hundreds of kilos of meth and cocaine from the U.S. into Canada.

Brampton Man Gets 20-Year U.S. Prison Term for Cross-Border Drug Smuggling

A 63-year-old Ontario resident was sentenced to two decades in American federal custody for running an operation that moved hundreds of kilos of meth and cocaine from the U.S. into Canada. Indo-Canadian Voice

Guramrit Sidhu, who lived in Brampton, received the 240-month punishment from a federal judge in Los Angeles on Thursday, according to prosecutors in the Central District of California.

Sidhu entered a guilty plea in March for continuing criminal enterprise. He had been held in American custody since his extradition the previous October.

Prosecutors said that for roughly two and a half years, ending in early 2023, the defendant oversaw a network that acquired bulk narcotics south of the border and arranged their movement north for resale. During a concentrated six-week window in the autumn of 2022, authorities intercepted eight loads totaling about 523 kilograms of methamphetamine and 347 kilograms of cocaine. The street value of those seized drugs ranged from $15 million to $17 million.

The scheme relied on long-haul tractor-trailers to carry the contraband across the border. The ringleader supplied couriers with phone numbers and serial numbers from currency bills to verify their identity during handoffs.

After the shipments entered Canada, Sidhu and his collaborators retrieved them at designated locations and prepared them for distribution.

He became the eighth person to admit guilt in this matter. Other participants have already been punished with prison stretches between 27 months and 108 months.

Multiple law enforcement bodies on both sides of the border contributed to the probe, including the FBI, Los Angeles Police, an L.A.-based interagency task force, the RCMP, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Mexican authorities. Homeland Security Investigations and the DEA lent substantial support. The Justice Department's international unit worked with Canadian counterparts to arrange the defendant's arrest and transfer to the United States.

Source: Google News CA — Crime (EN)