Canadian Bazaar Desk
TORONTO: Not even among the 20 smugglers, including nine Punjabis, arrested in Toronto’s largest-ever drug haul will face conviction.
These people were arrested under Project Brisa in 2021 for smuggling cocaine, crystal meth, and marijuana between Mexico, California, and Canada using modified tractor trailers.
Toronto Police had seized 444 kilos of cocaine, 182 kilos of crystal meth, 427 kilos of marijuana, 300 oxycodone pills and $966,020 in currency from the gang.
Police had also seized 21 vehicles, including 5 tractor trailers, and one firearm from the accused.
The suspects faced 182 charges.
But earlier this week, the Public Prosecution Service of Canada announed that all charges have been stayed. It gave no reason to the court for staying the charges.
Now the latest news on Project Brisa is that police secured zero conviction in the case and 10 of the suspects have already been released.
Among the nine Punjabis arrested in this case, three – Sukhwant Brar (39), Parminder Gill (35), and Gurbakhash Singh Grewal (39) – are from Brampton.
Three – Amarbir Singh Sarkaria (27), Harbaljit Singh Toor (48) and Ms Harwinder Bhullar (45) are from Caledon next to Brampton.
The remaining three – Sarjant Singh Dhaliwal (39), Gurveer Dhaliwal (28) and Gurmanpreet Grewal (28) – are from Kitchener.
It is not known whether all the Punjabis have been released.
Under Project Brisa, Canadian and American law enforcement agencies – between November 2020 and May 2021 – identified the suspects smuggling drugs across borders by installing hydraulic traps in tractor-trailers, capable of smuggling 100 kilograms of substance in a single trip.
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