On December 25, 2020, while facilitating the entry of essential goods at the Coutts, Alberta port of entry, Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers referred a semi-truck hauling produce for further inspection. While examining the shipment, CBSA officers uncovered 228.14 kg of methamphetamine with an estimated street value of $28.5 million. This amount of methamphetamine translates to 2.28 million individual dosages.
This is the CBSA’s largest seizure of methamphetamine at a land border crossing on record across Canada.
CBSA officers arrested the driver and turned the individual and the evidence over to Alberta Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). After a thorough investigation, the RCMP Integrated Border Enforcement Team has since charged Amarpreet Singh Sandhu, 38, of Calgary on the following counts pursuant to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act:
- Importation of a Controlled Substance, contrary to Section 6(1); and,
- Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking, contrary to Section 5(2).
Sandhu was released from custody on January 14, 2021, and is scheduled to appear in court on February 11, 2021, at the Lethbridge Provincial Courthouse.
The previous CBSA record for the amount of methamphetamine seized at a land border crossing was approximately 200 kg, from an incident on December 24, 2019 at the Ambassador Bridge port of entry in Windsor, Ontario.
