GREAT FALLS — Authorities in Alberta recently arrested and charged a man who allegedly was trying to smuggle more than $28 million worth of meth across the border.
It happened on December 25 at the port of entry at Coutts, Alberta, which is the port directly across from the U.S. port of Sweet Grass in Toole County, Montana.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) said in a news release that officers referred a semi-truck hauling produce for further inspection. While examining the shipment, CBSA officers uncovered 228.14 kg of methamphetamine with an estimated street value of $28.5 million. The CBSA says this amount of methamphetamine translates to about 2.28 million individual dosages.
This is the CBSA’s largest seizure of methamphetamine at a land border crossing on record across Canada.
CBSA officers arrested the driver and turned him and the evidence over to Alberta RCMP. The RCMP Integrated Border Enforcement Team has since charged Amarpreet Singh Sandhu of Calgary, 38 years old, with the following:
- Importation of a Controlled Substance, contrary to Section 6(1); and,
- Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking, contrary to Section 5(2).
Sandhu is scheduled to appear in court on February 11, 2021, at the Lethbridge Provincial Courthouse.
CBSA said that seizing and effectively preventing this enormous amount of methamphetamine from reaching our streets will have a positive impact on the safety of all Alberta communities. This seizure reflects our mutual commitment to providing excellent law enforcement services to the communities to which we serve and protect.
Ben Tame, Director, Southern Alberta and Southern Saskatchewan District, Prairie Region, Canada Border Services Agency, said in the news release: “While many Canadians were celebrating Christmas at home, border services officers at Coutts remained on the front line to protect our country. It is because of CBSA officers’ diligence while screening essential goods that this record amount of methamphetamine did not reach our streets or cause harm to our communities.”
