Truck driver accused in 406-kg meth haul granted bail

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This article was published 02/02/2024 (929 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BRANDON — A man accused of importing enough methamphetamine to give every Manitoban three doses of the drug was granted bail in Brandon court on Thursday.

Komalpreet Singh Sidhu, 29, is required to wear an ankle bracelet, pay $20,000 in bail, abide by a curfew and meet other court-ordered conditions.

He’s charged with importing, exporting and trafficking methamphetamine after Canada Border Services Agency officers seized 406 kilograms of the drug while inspecting the semi-truck he drove to the Canada-U.S. border at the Boissevain crossing on Jan. 14.

Crown attorney Matthew Sinclair said letting Sidhu back into the community would erode public confidence in the justice system.

Defence lawyer Katherine Smith reminded the court that under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms her client is presumed innocent. She said Sidhu had no knowledge about the drugs, which were stored in 10 large duffel bags in the semi’s trailer.

Sinclair read the evidence for the charges in court. The prosecutor said border officers screened a semi-truck that was towing a trailer for a compliance check. When they looked inside the trailer, they found the bags containing packages of methamphetamine.

In a statement to police after the discovery, the driver said he had never seen the load of furniture that he was transporting. But during their investigation, police found that he had sent a photo of the load to his boss.

Sinclair said the GPS system in the semi-truck showed three “suspicious” stops in California, including one stop during which the GPS system was disengaged. He said the driver went to a “less frequented area” for more than 50 minutes, during which authorities suspect he picked up the drugs. He then resumed his trucking duties and picked up the load of furniture destined for Winnipeg.

Sinclair also said authorities found a phone belonging to the driver and when they tried to plug it in, the device locked and started a two-minute countdown before it wiped itself of its own data.

The driver told police in a statement that he had three phones in his possession — a U.S phone, a Canadian phone and an older phone.

The Crown told court the driver had only worked for the trucking company for a short time and during that time had refused a trip to Texas, but only wanted California trips and to drive solo.

Sinclair said the RCMP continue to gather more evidence.

The seized drugs, according to the Crown, were estimated to have a street value of about $50 million.

“Too many Manitoba communities have been poisoned with methamphetamine,” Sinclair said.

He alleged that Sidhu was a trusted member of a high-level trafficking organization and that the Crown had a very strong case against him.

“This methamphetamine is not indigenous to Canada,” the Crown attorney said. “It came from somewhere else and into Canada to flood our streets and poison our people.”

Smith said the defence had not received any of the evidence so far, so the Crown had full control of the evidence and the facts of the case. Smith argued that prosecutors are not always successful in these types of cases, as narcotics can be loaded onto trucks without the driver’s knowledge.

She said the stop that her client made that police suggest was “off route” was on the route to Winnipeg; she provided a map of the direct route to the court.

“Many of the allegations being made to have Mr. Sidhu look nefarious are, in fact, false,” Smith told the court.

She said her client, who immigrated in 2014, has permanent resident status. He has been a truck driver since 2015. She said he has no criminal record and lives in Winnipeg with his wife.

Under the bail plan she presented, Sidhu would live at an address in Winnipeg, pay a $20,000 cash bail with a $100,000 surety, be under constant monitoring via an ankle bracelet and agree to court-ordered conditions that prevent him from driving a truck.

Judge Patrick Sullivan said the amount of meth and the nature of the drug makes the matter very serious, though he said the Crown’s concerns about Sidhu absconding and reoffending could be managed by the bail plan that was presented.

“At this time the central issue appears to be whether Mr. Sidhu had knowledge and control of the meth found in the trailer he was transporting from California to Manitoba,” Sullivan said, adding his role in the bail hearing is not to determine innocence or guilt.

He said the Crown’s evidence was circumstantial and that he recognized there were issues with the case that would be raised at trial.

He emphasized Sidhu has no criminal record and no history of breaching any court orders. The judge called the bail plan strict as he decided to grant Sidhu bail.

He ordered that Sidhu not leave Manitoba, be required to abide by a curfew and submit to a curfew check conducted by authorities.

— Brandon Sun