Pubdate: Wed, 16 Aug 2017
Source: Buffalo News (NY)
Copyright: 2017 The Buffalo News
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/GXIzebQL
Website: http://www.buffalonews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/61
Author: Phil Fairbanks

CANADIAN TRUCKER WHO TRANSPORTED $120 MILLION IN COCAINE GETS 20

YEARS

Prosecutors say the false compartments in Harinder Dhaliwal's tractor
trailers was the innovation that allowed more than 3 tons of cocaine
to move through Buffalo.

By Dhaliwal's own admission, the 6,600 pounds of cocaine he and others
smuggled into Canada had a street value of $120 million.

A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced the 47-year old Brampton, Ont.,
man to 20 years in prison.

"There is no other case like this," said Assistant U.S. Attorney
Timothy C. Lynch. "We've never seen this amount of drugs before."

 From the start, Dhaliwal argued that he was not a leader of the
international conspiracy that shipped cocaine to California and, then
with his help, moved it through Buffalo to Vancouver from 2006 until
mid-2011.

He went so far as to include a flow chart detailing his role in a
letter to U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny.

"The chart is not some illusion," said defense attorney Robert Ross
Fogg. "It's an effort to show that this is bigger than him."

Lynch acknowledged that drug cartels and organized crime were involved
in the conspiracy, but he said Dhaliwal and his Ontario-based trucking
company were essential to getting the cocaine into Canada.

He also noted that it was Dhaliwal who came up with the idea of false
compartments in his tractor-trailers.

In estimating the amount of drugs that moved through Buffalo,
investigators pointed to drug ledgers seized during the investigation
that indicated more than 3,500 pounds of cocaine had been transported
here as part of about a dozen smuggling trips from late 2009 to
September 2010.

"He supervised a massive flow of cocaine from California through
Canada into Vancouver," Lynch said.

In sentencing Dhaliwal, Skretny made several references to the large
amount of drugs involved in his crime and its human impact.

"The addiction. The harm. The hurt," he said. "You've caused a lot of
suffering. You've caused a lot of grief."

During the course of the investigation, investigators recovered more
than 500 pounds of cocaine. The amount seized included about 270
pounds taken as part of two separate seizures at the
Lewiston-Queenston Bridge and in Geneva.

At least six others were charged in connection with the conspiracy and
each of them has been convicted.

Dhaliwal's sentence is the result of an investigation by Immigration
and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S.
Customs and Border Protection, Canada Border Services Agency and the
Toronto Police.
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MAP posted-by: Matt