Cocaine seized by the Canada Border Services Agency on December 2, 2017. (Supplied by CBSA)

By David Opinko

Couple sentenced for smuggling 84 kg of cocaine at Coutts border

Apr 13, 2022 | 12:16 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Two people who attempted to bring millions of dollars worth of cocaine across the Coutts border have learned their fate.

Gurminder Singh Toor and Kirandeep Kaur Toor were sentenced in Lethbridge Court of Queen’s Bench on Wednesday, April 13, 2022.

On December 2, 2017, they were stopped by Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA) agents at the Coutts border crossing.

The husband and wife were delivering produce in a commercial truck from a business in California to a retailer in Airdrie.

Officers found 84 kg of cocaine in various locations throughout the cabin of the vehicle.

Nighttime construction on Hwy 3 in Lethbridge starts April 17

Apr 17, 2025

SASHA launches #BuyABed fundraiser to support vulnerable Lethbridge residents

Apr 04, 2025

$20K grants available: TELUS STORYHIVE Pan-Asian Edition opens applications April 1

Mar 18, 2025

Depending on how it is packaged and sold, the drugs have an estimated street value of $3.78 million to $5.208 million.

Back in April 2021, Gurminder was convicted by a jury of importing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and possession for the purpose of trafficking.

On Wednesday, Justice Johnna Kubik gave him a global sentence of 10 years in prison.

Kirandeep was also convicted on the importing charge but was found guilty of the lesser charge of simple possession.

She was sentenced to a period of nine years in custody.

Justice Kubik says there were many things to consider in her decision, the quantity of drugs and the nature of cocaine being the most pressing of which.

It also had to be taken into consideration how a sentence would impact their family structure and immigration status.

The two were born in India and moved to the United States at separate points in their lives.

Gurminder is an American citizen while Kirandeep’s U.S. green card expired while she awaited trial. At the conclusion of their sentences, Justice Kubik says he will likely be deported to the U.S. while she will face deportation to India.

At the time of publication, Kirandeep is also pregnant with the couple’s second child.

Her defense lawyer, Patrick Fagan, previously issued a constitutional challenge, saying that mandatory minimum sentences would cause extreme difficulties for his client and her expectant child.

Fagan wanted to see Kirandeep face a conditional sentence of two years less one day, essentially meaning she would be living in the community under strict conditions.

Kubik did not accept the constitutional challenge, citing federal legislation and Supreme Court of Canada decisions that are forthcoming that could render any decisions she made on it moot.

READ MORE: Couple found guilty of smuggling cocaine into Canada at Coutts

READ MORE: Constitutional challenge to be launched for Alberta drug smuggling case

For local news delivered daily to your email inbox, subscribe for free to the Lethbridge News Now newsletter here. You can also download the Lethbridge News Now mobile app in the Google Play and the Apple App Stores.