Judge rejects house arrest request for drug trafficker

A Winnipeg man arrested following an undercover drug investigation has lost a bid to serve his sentence in the same place he committed his crime — his home.

Omar Talib, 21, pleaded guilty to one count of possessing fentanyl for the purpose of trafficking.

Winnipeg police had another man under surveillance in early 2024 when investigators identified Talib and a third man as additional targets and secured a search warrant for their St. Anne’s Road residence.

Police seized 45 grams of fentanyl with a street value of $13,500, a small amount of cocaine, and $2,250 cash.

Defence lawyer Marc Zurbuchen urged provincial court Judge Dale Harvey to allow Talib to serve a two-years-less-a-day conditional sentence in the community, arguing he was an “impressionable” young man who was led astray and that a prison sentence would likely end in his deportation to Iraq.

Harvey soundly rejected the recommendation and sentenced Talib to four years in prison.

“In my view it would be ludicrous to impose a conditional sentence order, or ‘house arrest’, as it is known on the street, for possession in one’s own house for the purpose of trafficking,” Harvey said in a written ruling released earlier this month.

Harvey said a conditional sentence would not be appropriate given the quantity of fentanyl seized and the addictive, deadly nature of the drug itself.

“That our city and indeed our province is in an unprecedented drug and health crisis is undeniable,” Harvey said. “No one can downplay the devastation caused by knock-off fentanyl. When manufactured and distributed beyond controlled medical boundaries… it effectively becomes a crapshoot whether the user lives or dies.”

Court was told Talib and his family fled from Iraq and moved several times before arriving in Winnipeg in 2018. As a teenager, he trained as a wrestler and aspired to compete in the Canada Games.

According to an impact of race and culture assessment report filed with the court, Talib, who identifies as Muslim, professed to follow the teachings of his faith and “to care for himself by abstaining from substances that cause harm and intoxication.”

But Talib, stressed about his family’s immigration status, began smoking marijuana at 14. He started drinking at 19 “due to peer pressure,” leading later to cocaine, and on one occasion in 2023, fentanyl, said the report.

The report said Talib and his family had been subjected to racism and bullying since arriving in Canada. Talib reported negative interactions with police that he described as racially motivated.

Harvey said he was not satisfied allowing Talib to serve a conditional sentence would not endanger the community and that he was left with the impression Talib “tends to blame others for his poor choices.”

Talib claimed he became involved in trafficking fentanyl after friends lied to him, saying it was no more dangerous than marijuana, and that he had little knowledge of drugs.

“I… am highly skeptical of his claim of having a ‘limited knowledge of substances’, given the history of his experience and the nature of the offence itself,” Harvey said. “Ultimately, becoming involved in the drug trade was his decision alone.”

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca