Drug trafficker gets 40 months

A Richmond man who pleaded guilty to trafficking one kilogram of heroin and fentanyl has been sentenced to 40 months in jail.

Gary Gurpreet Dhillon, 26, was one of four men arrested and charged following an undercover police investigation dubbed Project Tariff. Undercover officers posing as drug users discussed ways of obtaining drugs with several targets, including Dhillon, a father of two young children who was employed at an appliance store where drug use was a problem.

When the subject of fentanyl came up, he said he could get “lots” of the deadly drug and provide an amount police interpreted as being in kilograms.

In July 2017, the undercover officers gave Dhillon $70,000 cash. Nine hours later he provided them with the kilo, which contained heroin and a small amount of fentanyl. The money was never recovered.

After he was arrested in August 2017, Dhillon admitted his role but said he didn’t think what he’d done amounted to trafficking. He said he was paid $1,000 to connect the dealer with the purchaser.

In imposing sentence on Dhillon, B.C. Supreme Court Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes said she agreed with Dhillon’s lawyer, Jason Tarnow, that the things Dhillon told police were more in the nature of bravado and that his addiction to drugs needed to be taken into account.

However, Holmes also agreed with Crown prosecutors that aggravating circumstances included the terrible harm fentanyl inflicts on the community and that a large quantity of drugs was involved. After giving Dhillon credit for pre-sentence custody, the judge reduced the sentence to 36 months.