A Prince George-born woman has been sentenced to five-and-a-half years in jail for speeding away from the Canada-U.S. border with 108 kilograms of methamphetamine hidden in a vehicle trunk.
Sukhvinder Kaur Sangha, 47, drove a rental car with Florida licence plates across the United States to the Pacific Border crossing in Surrey, BC, on Oct. 18, 2021. Rather than submit to a secondary search, Sangha fled from Canada Border Services Agency officers before she was arrested more than four kilometres from the border.
Just over three years later, Sangha pleaded guilty to unlawful importation of methamphetamine.
The Crown sought a sentence of 10 to 12 years in jail. The defence proposed a sentence of two years less a day to be served in the community, plus probation. Sangha had no pretrial custody credit.
The Crown stayed the charge of possession for the purpose of trafficking.
Sangha had worked for the past 10 years as a producer and broadcaster in Punjabi-language media. She said she was told indirectly to pay $150,000 or her teenage son would be injured or killed, and chose to import drugs instead of paying.
Justice John Gibb-Carsley said Sangha expressed remorse because she was caught rather than for her actions. He considered her guilty plea a mitigating factor.
“I have assessed Ms. Sangha’s moral blameworthiness and conclude that she was aware that she was importing a large quantity of illegal drugs into Canada,” the judge said. “Given her previous work with youth and police, she would be aware of the harm that methamphetamine can cause to individuals and society.”
Gibb-Carsley said he hoped Sangha understood the “significant risks, dangers and consequences associated with the illegal drug trade. It is not a victimless crime.”
He addressed her directly: “My hope is that you can use your time of incarceration productively and positively such that this is your last interaction with the criminal justice system.”
