Pubdate: Mon, 29 Jun 2009
Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2009 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact:  http://torontosun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457
Author: Tom Godfrey, Staff Writer

ROBIN HOOD A DRUG LORD

A Hero In His Punjabi Village, Brampton Man Convicted Of Smuggling Cocaine Into Canada

A Brampton man who's considered a modern-day Robin Hood has been
convicted in the U.S. of leading a drug smuggling ring that trucked at
least 36,000 kilos of cocaine from California to Toronto.

Tractor-trailer loads of cocaine were smuggled to the GTA and sold to
Asian gang members who "cut" it for sale on the streets, according to
U.S. justice officials.

A Bakersfield, Calif., jury found Harjeet Mann, 50, of Brampton, who
also lives in Bakersfield, and Sukhraj Dhaliwal, 39, guilty last week
of attempting to possess with intent to distribute 70 kilos of
cocaine, following the delivery of $972,000 US in cash to an
undercover drug agent.

A third man, Gurmeet Bisla, 29, of Livingston, Calif., was found
guilty of conspiring to distribute and to possess with intent to
distribute a large quantity of cocaine.

U.S. District Judge Oliver W. Wanger ordered the seizure of more than
$1.3 million as proceeds of crime, in addition to $60,669 seized from
Mann's bank accounts.

Mann told agents that in the last five years he had shipped about
36,000 kilos of cocaine from Bakersfield to Canada, once boasting,
"I'm the biggest there is."

Investigators started their probe after Bisla, a drug transporter, was
nabbed in Sheldon, Ill., carrying $196,000 in drug proceeds in a trailer.

That led to the seizure of $972,000 that Mann, Dahaliwal and a third
man delivered to an undercover agent for what they thought was the
purchase of 70 kilos of coke, says a release from U.S. justice officials.

Mann offered to sell agents 50-kilo buckets of ephedrine, a precursor
chemical used to make methamphetamine.

He claimed the substance was smuggled from India and sold for $38,000
a bucket.

Court heard that Mann, who's from the Punjabi village of Gureh, was
considered a modern-day Robin Hood by villagers.

Mann told court he often returned "home" and gave large sums of money
to villagers.

He'll receive a jail sentence of at least 10 years -- the mandatory
minimum -- when he appears in court on Aug. 24. 
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