Jaskaran Singh, Possession with Intent to Distribute MDMA, Washington 2023

Spokane, Washington – A jury has delivered a guilty verdict in the federal trial of Jaskaran Singh, a 31-year-old native of Punjab, India, who was found guilty of possessing over 170 pounds of MDMA, worth $7.8 million on the street, in Eastern Washington.

Acting United States Attorney Richard R. Barker announced that a jury returned a verdict in Singh's federal trial on March 17, 2025, at the United States District Court in Spokane. United States District Judge Thomas O. Rice presided over the trial.

The evidence presented at trial established that on April 29, 2023, at approximately 10:00 p.m., three unknown individuals tripped motion sensor cameras in a remote area just south of the U.S.-Canada border, approximately one-half-mile west of the Danville, Washington port of entry.

U.S. Border Patrol officials at the Curlew Border Patrol Station saw images of these individuals, who had crossed into the United States from Canada and were carrying backpacks and a suitcase. From the U.S. side of the border, the only route to drive into or out of this area is an unestablished dead end, dirt road known as Fourth of July Creek Road.

Minutes later, Border Patrol observed a 2014 Honda Odyssey traveling east on Fourth of July Creek Road. Border Patrol Agents responded to the area and stopped Singh, who was driving the rented Honda Odyssey away from the U.S. Canada border.

Singh faces a maximum term of imprisonment of twenty years at sentencing, which is set for June 25, 2025. He may also face removal from the United States. The exact amount of MDMA seized was 173.7 pounds.

The seizure, one of the largest ever in Eastern Washington, had a street value exceeding $7.8 million. 'Mr. Singh trafficked more than 170 pounds of illegal drugs across our northern border into the United States,' stated Acting United States Attorney Richard Barker. This seizure sends a clear message that those who seek to exploit our nation's borders by flooding our communities with dangerous controlled substances will be held accountable for their crimes.'

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edwa/pr/indian-national-found-guilty-possession-intent-distribute-more-170-pounds-mdma-eastern