A man wanted by the United States on drug charges has lost his appeal to have his extradition overturned.
Gurpreet Singh Sandhu is charged in the U.S. with five co-accused with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and heroin; individually, he's charged with attempted possession of cocaine and heroin with intent to distribute.
Minister of Justice David Lametti made the surrender to the U.S. order June 29, 2021 on charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and heroin and attempted possession of cocaine and heroin with intent to distribute
Sandhu contended it was unreasonable for the minister to order his surrender on the conspiracy charge. He said he was not given sufficient notice the U.S. was seeking to extradite him on a conspiracy charge. He said the lack of notice deprived him of his right to make comprehensive submissions.
The court rejected that.
“The record shows that Mr. Sandhu received ample information as to the nature of the charges for which he was being sought in the United States before the minister made his decision,” Justice Barbara Fisher wrote for the unanimous three-judge panel, in the Jan. 3 decision.
The allegations
Sandhu is wanted to stand trial in Washington State.
It's alleged he was one of a group of individuals involved in planning to transport drugs from the United States to Canada in 2014. That group was reportedly made up of Sandhu, David James Oliynyk, a.k.a. Nick Oliynyk, Wayne Stephen Hollaus, Nikolai Terletsky and Charles Pak, according to court documents.
The court decision said the U.S. record of the case submitted by U.S. authorities alleges Sandhu, a truck driver, attempted to transport narcotics across the border in a secret compartment in his truck.
The plan was foiled by American authorities who arranged for Sandhu to receive sham drugs instead, the decision said. Sandhu was arrested when he attempted to cross the border into Canada in May 2014 with the sham drugs in his truck.
The decision said that, in an interview with American agents, Sandhu made certain admissions about modifying his truck to include the secret compartment, receiving a call instructing him to meet a man in Bellingham to pick up some drugs, meeting a man to pick up drugs obtained from two co-accused and driving into Canada.
A B.C. Supreme Court hearing was held in late 2020 with an extradition committal order made on Jan. 25, 2021.
While the judge there was not satisfied the record of the case supported a committal for trafficking in controlled substances, he did find it supported a case for committal on the offence of attempted trafficking in controlled substances.
However, it is not the committal order Sandhu challenged.
Instead, he argued he faces a greater sentence in the U.S. than for the same offence in Canada. He claimed he would face racial discrimination in the U.S. and that U.S. systemic pressures coerce people to plead guilty.
He also argued no true crime was committed given no drugs were provided to him and his actions at best constituted a not-fully-formed crime.
Sandhu’s case is not the first related to the charges to come before B.C.'s appeal court. In June 2022, the court denied Oliynik, an alleged Hells Angels member's appeal of his extradition to the U.S. to face drug-related charges.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice David Crossin had ordered Oliynyk extradited April 2, 2020.
Hollaus's appeal was denied Aug. 3.
