An Indian man who was jailed more than 10 years after being found guilty of smuggling $12 million cocaine will be deported following serving his sentence. Jugrapreet Singh, who was nabbed at the Windsor border with almost 100 kilograms of cocaine after being investigated by Brantford police, was chastised by a Brantford judge for taking advantage of Canada’s “hospitality.”

By DESIBUZZCanada Staff With News Files

BRAMPTON – An Indian man who was jailed more than 10 years after being found guilty of smuggling $12 million cocaine will be deported following serving his sentence.

Jugrapreet Singh, who was nabbed at the Windsor border with almost 100 kilograms of cocaine after being investigated by Brantford police, was chastised by a Brantford judge for taking advantage of Canada’s “hospitality.”

The 24-year-old Singh will almost certainly be deported after his 10 1/2-year sentence, handed down in Superior Court last Wednesday.

Almost 100 kilograms of cocaine was seized in 2021 from a tractor-trailer at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor after a drug investigation led by Brantford police, Canadian Border Services Agency and the Criminal Investigation Service Ontario. A Brampton man was sentenced for his part in the scheme this week.

Singh pleaded guilty to importing drugs into Canada and, through a Punjabi interpreter, apologized, promising he won’t repeat his mistakes and will move forward “very carefully, keeping the laws in mind.”

But Superior Court Justice Harrison Arrell said Singh “abused this country’s hospitality” after coming from India on a student visa.

After completing a diploma in the hospitality industry, Singh drove for a trucking company where he and others developed what the judge called a “sophisticated plan” to move cocaine across the border.

The lawyers in the case agreed Singh will almost certainly be deported after his prison sentence and the defence lawyer suggested that would be the best thing for his client as it would return him to his family and more community support than he has in Canada, reported Postmedia.

Singh was arrested in Windsor in December 2021 after Brantford police were investigating a transport company variously described as being based in Milton or Mississauga that had local connections.

A search of the vehicle Singh was driving turned up 98 kilograms of cocaine packed into five black duffel bags. At the time, investigators thought there was about 112 kilograms of the drug and estimated it could be worth $12 million.

 “This was a well-thought-out and deliberate plan to import a huge amount of cocaine,” Arrell said.

But, he added Singh was neither the mastermind of the operation nor the main beneficiary of the profits.

“Illegal drugs are a scourge on society, made available for sheer profit by unscrupulous people to prey on the weak so they get addicted with no thought as to consequences,” Arrell said, reported Postmedia.

“The victims then turn to crime which, in turn, causes increased harm to the community as a whole.”