Accused cross-examined in record drug smuggling case at Coutts border

In Lethbridge Court of Queen’s Bench Thursday for the second day of trial, the crown and defense had the opportunity to ask Mir questions and for him to go over his recollection of the events.

At the time, Mir was employed by Shere Punjab Transport in Calgary and made international deliveries using a commercial truck that he owned.

In July 2019, he was tasked with taking a shipment of pork from JBS in Brooks to a company that makes sausages in Burbank, California.

After completing the delivery, Mir phoned his dispatch office in Calgary to see where he would be picking up a shipment to take back to Canada, although he could not recall where that was.

Once he received the second shipment, his truck broke down and he had to go to a repair shop in San Fernando. He dropped the truck off for the night and walked to a nearby motel as the mechanics had to order the necessary parts. By this point, another driver had taken Mir’s shipment for him, leaving Mir with an empty cargo trailer.

The repairs were completed the following afternoon and Mir made his way back to Canada.

Upon arriving at the Coutts border crossing, Mir admitted in court to lying to a CBSA officer about the truck repairs that were done in the U.S.A. so he could avoid paying GST and duties.

An officer pulled his truck aside for a secondary inspection. Mir sat in a waiting room for approximately 30-45 minutes while officers searched more thoroughly.

Detective Shaun Skidmore testified Wednesday that he and his K-9 Yogi found a quantity of methamphetamine in a tire chain box that was behind a pile of laundry in the driver’s cabin. After Mir’s arrest, the pair located a duffle bag with additional packages of meth underneath the bottom bunk bed, which had been tucked in.

When one of the officers told Mir that he was under arrest for importing drugs, he told court that he was “shocked”.

He replied to the member, “excuse me, what?” and told them he had no idea where the drugs came from.

In court, he assured that he had never seen the duffle bag nor the drugs inside the box.

Mir’s defense attorney Allan Fay implied that it is possible the drugs might have been planted in the truck sometime when the truck was at the repair shop but maintains that his client had zero knowledge of their existence.

Deanna Smyth and her Co-Crown Prosecutor drilled into the many details of the trip that Mir could not recall such as where he picked up his deliveries, whether the auto mechanics were paid by cash or credit card, the exact exchanges between himself and the CBSA officers at the time, parts of the testimonies that the five CBSA officers made in court this week, and that he did not know the bottom bunk bed in his own truck could be lifted with a mechanism.

Following today’s proceedings, the presiding judge is expected to reserve his decision for a future date.

by David Opinko

Accused cross-examined in record drug smuggling case at Coutts border

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