Alleged cocaine-smuggling trucker Sandhu back to court Monday

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Avatar Singh Sandhu is getting a new trial on cocaine trafficking charges and it starts on Monday Oct. 3, 2011 at the Supreme Court of Justice in Milton, Ont. As you may recall, truck driver Sandhu walked away on a technicality after he was caught with a massive amount of coke (205kgs) nestled in with a load of baby carrots. But that acquittal was overturned by the Ontario appellate court on Feb. 11 and we’ve been waiting ever since.
At the crux of the trial is the way the evidence was gathered and whether Sandhu’s Charter of Rights to unreasonable search and seizure were violated. Many in the trucking community have been watching this situation partly because of the super-hero antics of a Halton-area truck stop owner who chased a couple of suspicious guys who were evidently up to no good in his parking lot. He finally blocked in Sandhu on a ramp to the 401 and was at first joined by a DOT officer. This is also an important factor as MTO officers are allowed to enter any commercial vehicle to check loads. However, some rookie Halton regional cop may have forgotten to get a search warrant before entering the trailer. We’ll let you know how this unfolds.

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Harry Rudolfs has worked as a dishwasher, apprentice mechanic, editor, trucker, foreign correspondent and taxi driver. He's written hundreds of articles for North American and European journals and newspapers, including features for the Ottawa Citizen, Toronto Life and CBC radio.

With over 30 years experience in the trucking industry he's hauled cars, steel, lumber, chemicals, auto parts and general freight as well as B-trains. He holds an honours BA in creative writing and humanities, summa cum laude.


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  • Hopefully he will get what’s coming to him this time. Anybody else noticed the similarities in these drug arrests concerning trucks over the last number of years. It seems that one group of people seem to be either being caught at it more often than others or perhaps they are just doing it more often and it’s the law of averages catching up with them. Either way this stuff sure doesn’t do anything to move this industry forward.

  • I dont cross the border anymore since the US customs took my fastcard from me and wouldnt give it back.(AlexandiaBayNY)Anyway so I had been crossing the border for nearly 10yrs and never considered smuggling anything anyway anywhere on my truck no matter what they wouldve paid me.I planned to keep my job,record and nose clean.(LOL) But all that didnt matter that day.They were just going to make a point of ruining a Canadians day that day.Believe it or not.I guess they figured what can he do if we do

  • Well this certain ethnic group tends to work cheap so I guess they needed to find other ways to supplement there income.Hope they put him away for a nice long time.

  • I went to the trial in Milton yesterday and found out it’s been remanded until Jan 5. Will keep y’all posted. Harry

  • Maybe Mr. Sandhu should be sent to the United States where they have a real criminal justice system where he would be looking at a twenty five year to thirty year prison sentence. Guys like this in the trucking industry make me sick!