Buffalo, NY – In a case that marks the largest seizure of cocaine in the Western District of New York’s history, Canadian man, Parminder Sidhu, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to export five kilograms or more of cocaine from the United States.
The charge carries a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison, a maximum of life, a $10,000,000 fine or both. The case is a result of a massive investigation involving multiple law enforcement agencies, including the US Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Peel Regional Police Department.
According to Assistant US Attorney Timothy C. Lynch, between 2009 and May 10, 2011, Sidhu conspired with Michael Bagri and Ravinder Arora to export cocaine from the United States to Canada. The investigation revealed that Sidhu hired defendant Bagri to travel to California to pick up cocaine, which was then hidden in a false compartment in the floor of a tractor trailer.
The tractor trailer was seized at the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge by Special Agents with the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Patrol during a secondary inspection. The seizure resulted in the recovery of 97 kilograms of cocaine. In another incident, Sidhu directed defendant Bagri to travel once again to California, where he hid another 26 kilograms of cocaine in a tractor trailer.
Agents seized the 26 kilograms of cocaine at a truck stop in Pembroke, NY. During the execution of a search warrant at Sidhu’s residence in Canada, agents discovered drug ledgers that detailed nine additional smuggling trips in 2009 and 2010, involving approximately 1,617 kilograms of cocaine being transported from the United States into Canada.
Defendants Ravinder Arora and Michael Bagri have been convicted of similar charges and are awaiting sentencing, scheduled for April 9, 2014. Sidhu will be sentenced on May 28, 2014, at 9:00 a.m. before Chief Judge William M. Skretny.
US Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. praised the cooperation between American and Canadian law enforcement partners, stating that the case demonstrates that crime has no borders, but neither does the ability to apprehend criminals. The investigation was a result of a partnership between the Buffalo BEST team and the Peel Regional Police Service.
James C. Spero, Special Agent in Charge of HSI Buffalo, added that the guilty pleas mark the dismantling of one of the biggest cocaine smuggling organizations to have ever operated in Western New York.
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