Appeal court orders new trial in $4M drug seizure near Sask.-Alta. border
The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal has ordered a new trial for two men previously acquitted of drug trafficking charges after a judge excluded evidence due to Charter rights violations. The appellate court ruled that the trial judge erred in determining that police lacked sufficient grounds for the vehicle search.
Why it matters
This case highlights the ongoing legal tension between police investigative powers and constitutional protections during border-related drug enforcement operations.
Parminder Singh, 23, and Sahilpreet Grewal, 22, were acquitted last year after a trial in Battleford Court of King's Bench after the judge ruled their Charter rights were violated by the search of their vehicle.
The judge excluded from evidence the 90 kilograms of meth and 65 kg of cocaine that police found in the traffic stop near Maidstone, Sask., on June 1, 2023 — which left the Crown with no case.
The Crown appealed and, in a ruling last week, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal overturned the acquittal and ordered a new trial.
The trial judge erred by concluding the police officers lacked the grounds for arresting the accused and then searching their vehicle, wrote Justice Jeffery Kalmakoff, with Chief Justice Robert Leurer and Justice Naheed Bardai concurring.
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