Brothers in drug-smuggling case lose appeal of extradition order

B.C. court dismisses accused pair’s attempt to have 2016 ruling halted

The B.C. Court of Appeal has rejected a bid by two B.C. brothers accused of drug smuggling in Washington state to halt their extradition to the U.S.

Oscar Edgardo Mendoza and Rember Oswaldo Guevara-Mendoza are accused of conspiring to smuggle large quantities of cocaine and ecstasy across the border.

They were ordered extradited in June 2016, but filed an appeal of that B.C. Supreme Court ruling.

Mendoza and Guevara-Mendoza appealed both the extradition order and a later decision by the justice minister to hand them over to American authorities.

They argued that the earlier judge should have granted their application for further disclosure in the case. And they said the evidence the U.S. cited was insufficient to support their extradition.

But Appeal Court Justice Gregory Fitch disagreed, saying the “extradition judge did not err in finding the evidence sufficient to justify committal.”

“In my view, the decision of the minister to order the surrender of both applicants is reasonable and discloses no reviewable error that would justify intervention on judicial review,” Fitch said in his written reasons, released last month.

“I would dismiss the appeals from committal. I would also dismiss the applications for judicial review of the minister’s decisions to surrender the applicants to the requesting state for prosecution.”

Mendoza also claimed in his appeal that the justice minister did not consider the impact of his extradition on his three children.

But Fitch said “the minister thoroughly considered Mr. Mendoza’s family situation … along with the importance of complying with Canada’s international obligations to its extradition partners.”

Appeal Court Justices Sunni Stromberg-Stein and Lauri Ann Fenlon agreed. The brothers were charged after authorities seized 54 kilograms of cocaine in the U.S. that was destined for Canada and 59 kg of ecstasy in Canada that was headed for the U.S.

The drugs were seized following an elaborate undercover operation involving police and drug-enforcement officials on both sides of the border. Evidence against the brothers consisted mainly of phone and text communications they had with a man in Washington state who knew them and was secretly working with law enforcement.

In July 2012, after communications between the accused and the man identified only as a “confidential witness,” 29 kg of cocaine destined for Canada was seized in Bellingham, Wash. Authorities replaced a suitcase full of the 29 kg of cocaine they had seized with a substance resembling cocaine. The suitcase containing the sham cocaine was then smuggled across the border and later recovered by police and drug-enforcement officials at an Abbotsford home.

U.S. authorities say the pair continued to smuggle drugs across the border. Two more shipments of cocaine — 14 kg in August 2012 and 11 kg in December 2012 — were seized by police in Washington.

In February 2013, RCMP recovered 41 clear-plastic, heat-sealed bags from two backpacks in one of the brothers’ vehicles in the parking lot of a Langley theatre. The total weight of the ecstasy was just under 60 kg.

The decision of the minister to order the surrender of both applicants is reasonable and discloses no reviewable error.