Appeal court orders new trial in $4M drug seizure after judge ruled Charter rights violated

The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal has overturned an acquittal in a $4-million drug bust and ordered a new trial, finding the trial judge erred when he excluded evidence based on a claim of Charter rights violation.

Parminder Singh, 23, and Sahilpreet Grewal, 22, were acquitted last year after a trial in Battleford Court of King's Bench when the judge ruled their Charter rights were violated during a traffic stop near Maidstone, Saskatchewan, on June 1, 2023. The judge excluded the 90 kilograms of meth and 65 kg of cocaine police found in the vehicle, leaving the Crown with no case.

In a ruling last week, Justice Jeffery Kalmakoff, writing for the three-judge panel that included Chief Justice Robert Leurer and Justice Naheed Bardai, found that the trial judge erred by concluding police officers lacked grounds for arresting the accused and searching their vehicle.

The case grew out of an investigation sparked by two drug seizures at the Coutts, Alberta, border crossing earlier in 2023. On February 17, Canada Border Services Agency officers seized 300 kg of methamphetamine from a tractor-trailer. The RCMP's Integrated Border Enforcement Team launched a larger investigation called Project Intuitive, and on April 17, officers seized another 245 kg of methamphetamine. The Crown ultimately stayed all charges related to both seizures.

Police came to believe that Singh was involved in facilitating the methamphetamine shipments intercepted at Coutts. They obtained a warrant to track his cellphone. On June 1, tracking data showed Singh's phone had travelled from Edmonton to Winnipeg overnight, arriving at 5:30 a.m., then started heading back to Edmonton four hours later.

The team commander for Project Intuitive asked Corporal Alexandros Giannoulis with the RCMP's roving traffic unit to conduct a traffic stop. Giannoulis was given only "some minor details," including the short turnaround time in Winnipeg, the vehicle's "heavy tint" on its windows, and that Singh was "tied to two large drug seizures."

That evening, Giannoulis and another RCMP officer positioned themselves near Highway 16 west of Maidstone and saw a westbound vehicle matching the description they'd been given. During the traffic stop, officers observed both occupants appearing nervous. Singh handed over both driver's licences instead of just his own. The appeals court found these observations, combined with the cellphone tracking information, gave officers grounds to arrest and search the vehicle.