ON December 2, 2017, Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA) officers at Coutts in Alberta intercepted a commercial vehicle hauling produce from California that was destined for an Alberta business. While examining the cab of the vehicle, officers found bricks of suspected cocaine which the CBSA said at the time was the largest suspected cocaine seizure recorded by CBSA officers in Alberta. There were 84 bricks of cocaine weighing about 99.5 kilograms including packaging.

Two travellers, the driver and a passenger, were arrested and turned over to the RCMP. On December 4, 2017, the RCMP charged Gurminder Singh Toor, then 31, of California and Kirandeep Kaur Toor, then 26, of California on four counts each under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

The two were sentenced in Lethbridge Court of Queen’s Bench on April 13, 2022.

In April 2021, Gurminder Toor had been convicted by a jury of importing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and possession for the purpose of trafficking.

Last week, Justice Johnna Kubik gave him a global sentence of 10 years in prison, according to the Lethbridge News Now.

Kirandeep Toor was also convicted on the importing charge but was found guilty of the lesser charge of simple possession. She received a sentence of nine years in custody.

The judge noted that while sentencing the two, the impact on their family structure and immigration status had also to be considered. The India-born couple had moved to the U.S. at separate points in their lives.

Gurminder Toor is an American citizen while Kirandeep Toor’s U.S. green card expired as she waited for her trial. The judge said that after completing their prison terms, he will likely be deported to the U.S., while she will face deportation to India. Kirandeep Toor is also pregnant with the couple’s second child.