Justice Murray Blok convicted Jagtar Singh Dehal, 49, of possessing ketamine for the purpose of trafficking, handing him a three year sentence. Because of Dehal’s immigration status, a sentence of six months or more means he is subject to deportation proceedings without the right of appeal. Dehal was living apart from his wife and daughter after a recent conviction for domestic violence. An unemployed janitor and handyman, Dehal has past convictions for two alcohol-related driving offences, three thefts, three assaults, two breaches of probation, mischief and uttering threats.
SURREY — An Indo-Canadian man from Surrey has been sentenced to three years in jail for his part in an elaborate million-dollar drug smuggling scheme.
Justice Murray Blok convicted Jagtar Singh Dehal, 49, of possessing ketamine for the purpose of trafficking.
Dehal, a permanent resident of Canada who immigrated from India 29 years ago, was arrested on June 3, 2012, after an RCMP sting operation.
On May 25, 2012, officers of the Canada Border Services Agency had intercepted a cargo crate that arrived at Vancouver International Airport on a commercial flight from India, where much of the world’s supply of ketamine is manufactured, reported Postmedia News.
CBSA officers opened the crate and took apart a roller conveyor unit. Inside the unit’s nine rollers they found 23.15 kilograms of ketamine worth $1.15 million if sold in individual doses, according to police testimony.
The crate was picked up from the airport on May 31, 2012, and transported to three locations before Dehal arrived in the alley of a house on East 36th Avenue in Vancouver on June 2, 2012.
Police observed him take apart the unit and then transport the nine rollers to his house in Surrey, taking counter-surveillance driving measures on the way.
Dehal had removed two bags of the fake ketamine before tripping the alarm attached to the third bag containing real ketamine, a fast-acting animal anesthetic that in humans creates a euphoric dreamlike state and is also used as a date-rape drug, reported Postmedia.
Because of Dehal’s immigration status, a sentence of six months or more means he is subject to deportation proceedings without the right of appeal.
Justice Murray Blok said he took that into consideration, but said defence argument for a sentence of six months less a day would “skew the sentencing process to a wholly inappropriate extent.”
Dehal was living apart from his wife and daughter after a recent conviction for domestic violence. An unemployed janitor and handyman, Dehal has past convictions for two alcohol-related driving offences, three thefts, three assaults, two breaches of probation, mischief and uttering threats.
Sentences for those convictions involved fines, six probations, a three-month conditional sentence and one day in jail.
Dehal had claimed at his trial on the possession charge that he was an innocent mule who had been duped by an acquaintance, a defence the judge flatly rejected, reported Postmedia.
