Cocaine smuggler pleads guilty

A Brampton man involved in a conspiracy to smuggle more than $120 million in cocaine from the U.S. into Canada at several border crossings including the Queenston-Lewiston Bridge faces a maximum sentence of life in prison when he returns to court this summer of sentencing.

Harinder Dhaliwal, 47, pleaded guilty Wednesday in a Buffalo, N.Y., court to a charge of conspiracy to export five kilograms or more of cocaine into Canada from the U.S.

The charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison, a maximum of life, and a $10-million fine. The defendant will be sentenced Aug. 16.

According to U.S. Attorney Timothy, Lynch, Dhaliwal between 2006 and 2011 conspired with others to smuggle cocaine into Canada, along with marijuana and ecstasy from Canada into the U.S.

Court was told the suspects stashed the drugs in tractor-trailers with false compartments in their floors.

As part of his plea agreement, Dhaliwal admitted to being part of an international conspiracy that trafficked more than 3,000 kilograms of cocaine worth $120 million.

Over the course of their investigation, officials seized 230 kilograms of cocaine at the Queenston-Lewiston Bridge and in Geneva, N.Y. Those seizures represented the largest drug seizure arising from a single investigation in the history of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Buffalo.

The other 107 kilograms of cocaine were seized in California.

Documents seized during the investigation detailed approximately a dozen trips that were made from late 2009 to September 2010 that involved about 1,617 kilograms of cocaine that were transported from the U.S. into Canada.