One of two men convicted of importing opium from Iran into Burnaby has lost his appeal.
The B.C. Court of Appeal has tossed out an appeal by Esfandiar Henareh, who was convicted of possessing opium for the purposes of trafficking, in a case going back to 2011.
According to the appeal decision, Henareh was arrested along with another man, Aghasi Salamat Ravandi, by police in March 2011 near an apartment in the 4300 block of Maywood Avenue. Police found nearly 14 kilograms of opium in three coolers located underneath a blanket in the trunk of the Honda Henareh was driving.
The two men were under surveillance by RCMP after an officer received a tip about men involved in importing opium from Iran into Canada.
Ravandi was convicted and sentenced to 4.5 years in prison in a separate trial.
According to the facts of the case, on March 9, 2011, an officer identified as Sgt. Fossum received information from the Canadian Border Service Agency that a shipment had arrived from Iran addressed to Ravandi at his Burnaby residence. The shipment consisted of four large packages that were said to contain samovars (teapots) and rugs. The packages were referred for secondary inspection. Three of the packages contained samovars. One package contained rolled up rugs. The samovars were deconstructed and found to contain a total of approximately 18 kilograms of opium.
Two days later, Ravandi unexpectedly returned to the CBSA Air Cargo Centre to collect the shipment. Sgt. Fossum was advised of this development and a surveillance team was quickly assembled consisting of RCMP and CBSA officers.
Ravandi was invited by a CBSA officer to wait in a small coffee shop adjacent to the CBSA Air Cargo Centre for his packages to be readied for delivery. He was seen by surveillance officers sitting at a table in the café. A second man, later identified as Henareh, was seated in the café at the same time. Both men were typing on their handheld devices but did not speak or appear to acknowledge one another. Ravandi left the café. Shortly thereafter, Henareh left the café and walked in the same direction as Ravandi, where he was seen getting into a Honda.
After being tailed into Vancouver, the police watched the two men load one of the packages from a U-Haul van into the Honda. The two men got in the Honda and drove to Burnaby.
Henareh parked a block or two away from Ravandi’s residence in Burnaby. He stayed in the vehicle while Ravandi got out and began walking towards his building. Henareh then drove around to the back alley of Ravandi’s building. At that time, Sgt. Fossum pulled the Honda over and arrested Henareh for importing a controlled substance.
In his appeal, Henareh argued the evidence obtained in a search of his vehicle incidental to a warrantless arrest should not have been admitted at trial.
The appeal decision, written by Justice Gregory Fitch, noted the trial judge engaged in an exhaustive review of the evidence in a voir dire, or trial within a trial.
In a summary, Fitch wrote the central issue is whether the arresting officer’s subjective belief that he had reasonable grounds to arrest the appellant was objectively reasonable. He said the trial judge did not err in law or misapprehend the evidence.
