Alvin Randhawa , who's older brother Alexie Randhawa was also in US prison in another cocaine smuggling operation, pleaded guilty last August to conspiracy to export cocaine from the U.S. into Canada and on Wednesday the judge announced his sentence. Alvin admitted last year that he was part of a criminal organization that included Ravinder Arora, Michael Bagri, Parminder Sidhu, Gursharan Singh, Harinder Dhaliwal and Huy Hoang Nguyen, all of whom  were also charged in the investigation and have been convicted.

BUFFALO – Richmond resident Alvin Randhawa has been sentenced to over seven years in jail following his conviction in the $120 milling cocaine smuggling ring.

Randhawa , who's older brother Alexie Randhawa was also in US prison in another cocaine smuggling operation, pleaded guilty last August to conspiracy to export cocaine from the U.S. into Canada and on Wednesday the judge announced his sentence.

Due to plea bargaining, other charges against Alvin Randhawa were dropped as he had faced a minimum U.S. jail term of 10 years. But U.S. District Court Judge William M. Skretny gave Randhawa an 87-month sentence, followed by another three years of supervised release for Randhawa.

The seven-year term for Alvin is two years longer than the 60-month sentence handed to Alexie in 2008 after he was caught in California with 107 kilograms of cocaine linked to another cross-border smuggling operation, reported the Vancouver Sun. Alexie served four years before returning to Canada and his job as a Vancouver dockworker.

Alvin, now 36, admitted last year that he was part of a criminal organization that included Ravinder Arora, Michael Bagri, Parminder Sidhu, Alvin Randhawa, Gursharan Singh, Harinder Dhaliwal and Huy Hoang Nguyen, all of whom  were also charged in the investigation and have been convicted.

Sentencing for the 47-year-old Dhaliwal has been scheduled for Aug. 16, 2017 in Buffalo. The charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison, a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $10 million fine.

“The defendants utilized tractor-trailers that contained false compartments within the floor of tractor-trailers,” authorities said.

“In addition to cocaine, the tractor-trailers were used to transport ecstasy and hundreds of pounds of marijuana into the United States from Canada.”

Authorities said they identified around 12 smuggling trips from late 2009 to September 2010, which involved more than 1,600 kilograms of cocaine being transported from the Western District of New York into Canada.

The joint investigation involved Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security, United States Customs and Border Protection, Peel Regional Police, Toronto Police and the Canada Border Services Agency.

The fallout from Alvin and Alexie Randhawa's drug smuggling has hit their brother Arun Randhawa, who, like Alexie after returning from prison, is also a longshoreman.

Arun, who had argued that it's unfair to deny him a special security pass because of his brothers' crimes, recently lost a Federal Court battle over a government decision to deny him security clearance on the docks because of his siblings’ crimes.

But Federal Court Judge René Leblanc ruled in June that Arun's brothers’ “serious criminal activities” were relevant “to the security of marine transportation,” reported Vancouver Sun.

Transport Canada filed a police report in its case against Arun which said that his brothers were members of “an organized crime group involved in cross border narcotics smuggling” that had links with “the Hells Angels, the Japanese mafia, and Chinese criminals.”