Saskatchewan Court Orders Retrial After Overturning $4 Million Drug Bust Acquittal

The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal reversed a Battleford Court of King's Bench verdict that had cleared Parminder Singh, 23, and Sahilpreet Grewal, 22, of drug-trafficking charges. The appellate panel concluded the trial judge wrongly excluded 90 kg of methamphetamine and 65 kg of cocaine found during a traffic stop near Maidstone on June 1, 2023, because the judge misapplied the Charter test for reasonable suspicion. Justice Jeffery Kalmakoff, joined by Chief Justice Robert Leurer and Justice Naheed Bardai, held that the officers’ belief was objectively reasonable given the suspects’ nervous behavior, false statements, and other observations.

The stop was part of Project Intuitive, an RCMP investigation triggered by two large meth seizures at the Coutts, Alberta border earlier in 2023. Police had tracked Singh’s cellphone and used the information to justify the stop. The appeal mandates a new trial where the previously excluded drug evidence can be admitted.