14 years for man called ‘mere carrier’ of $1-M drugs

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This article was published 29/08/2023 (824 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BRANDON — A Toronto man convicted in what the Crown called the largest fentanyl bust in Manitoba was sentenced Monday to 14 years behind bars.

Mandeep Deol, 43, was found guilty in January of possessing more than $1 million worth of fentanyl and methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) for the purposes of trafficking.

Deol’s cousin, who was with him in the van stopped by police outside Brandon in July 2020, was also charged but found not guilty at trial.

Sentencing submissions took place in May, and the Crown argued Deol should be sentenced to 22 years in prison; the defence asked for 12 years.

A summary of the evidence at Deol’s trial was included in both Justice Elliott Leven’s trial, sentencing and voir dire decisions.

On July 28, 2020, Deol was driving a rented van heading eastbound on the Trans-Canada Highway when he was pulled over near Brandon.

Police stopped the vehicle because it was speeding about 12 km/h over the posted speed limit. After pulling the van over, the officer noticed an open whisky bottle in the back seat.

The officer searched the van for more open bottles of liquor, and finding none, told the driver he could keep the whisky in the back of the van.

The officer then opened the van’s rear hatch and noticed two bulging hockey bags.

Once the bags were searched, police found about 26 kilograms of fentanyl and 50 kg of MDA.

In a voir dire — a separate hearing within a trial — during the trial, defence argued when the officer opened the rear hatch of the van, he violated Deol’s Section 8 Charter right against unreasonable search or seizure, and therefore the seized drugs should not be admissible as evidence.

Defence argued the officer’s explanation for wanting to put the whisky in the truck was a ruse to open the hatch and illegally search the van.

The Crown argued the officer honestly wanted to let Deol keep the whisky.

Ultimately, the judge decided it was unlawful for the police officer to open the hatch without permission from the driver, nor asking him whether he would prefer to put the whisky in the trunk or pour it out. However, Leven decided the seized drugs were admissible.

“The impact on interests protected by s.8 (of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms) was minor,” Leven wrote in his voir dire decision. “The dangers of fentanyl and MDA are serious, and the quantities of drugs were extremely large. Society has an overwhelming interest in having these alleged offences adjudicated on the merits.”

During sentencing submissions in May, Crown attorney Janna Hyman spoke about the deadly outcomes of fentanyl and the millions of dollars in profit that the drugs, on their way to Ontario, would garner. She said the large quantities meant the drug-running organization had a high level of trust in Deol.

Deol’s lawyer, Anthony Dawson, argued his client was a “mere carrier” and at the lowest level of the large drug operation. He said a 22-year sentence for the man, who immigrated to Canada in 2008 and had no criminal record, was “oppressive and crushing.”

Deol, through a Punjabi interpreter, told the court he has been concerned about his family while he has been in jail and wished he could go home to care for his young children and wife who live in Toronto.

Leven’s written decision, which was delivered Monday in the Court of King’s Bench, sentenced Deol to 14 years in prison, with credit for the three years he has already served while on remand.

Deol was also sentenced to a mandatory 10-year weapons prohibition.

— Brandon Sun