Sisters cleared of opium smuggling
An Ottawa woman charged with criminal offences related to an attempt five years ago to smuggle opium into the city in the heels of women’s shoes has been found not guilty on all counts.
Haniyeh Jahangiri was 25 when she was arrested in June 2013, after Canadian Border Services Agency officers at a mail-processing plant in Montreal intercepted a suspicious package addressed to the St Laurent Blvd. apartment where she lived. Inside the package, almost two kilograms of opium were discovered hidden in the heels of women’s shoes.
A similar package containing about one kilo of opium was addressed to Jahangiri’s sister, Samira Jahangiri, then 30, in Port Moody, B.C. Samira was also found not guilty of charges against her.
The two were charged with conspiracy to import opium and importing opium; Haniyeh was additionally charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking. The trial spanned 13 days in 2017 and 2018.
In his May 14 decision, Ontario Superior Court Justice Marc R. Labrosse indicated he believed it “highly probable” that both Haniyeh and Samira were involved in some capacity with the delivery of the packages, and that text messages between the two were “suspicious and point to the fact that both were probably involved in some form of illicit activity,” yet he ultimately pointed to enough circumstantial evidence and evidential gaps in the Crown’s case to make it impossible to conclude the guilt of either beyond a reasonable doubt.