Acquittals overturned, new trial ordered in 155-kilogram drug seizure near Maidstone

The trial judge found the initial traffic stop was lawful and the officers had reasonable grounds to suspect drug trafficking, making the men’s investigative detention lawful. However, he found Cpl. Alexandros Giannoulis’s belief at the time of arrest was not objectively reasonable.

The case therefore turned on whether police had crossed the higher legal threshold required to arrest the men without a warrant.

An officer making such an arrest must honestly believe an indictable offence has been or is about to be committed. That belief must also be objectively reasonable when all the circumstances known to the officer are considered.

The appeal court found the trial judge reached the wrong legal conclusion.

The stop was connected to Project Intuitive, an RCMP investigation launched after Canada Border Services Agency officers seized 300 kilograms of methamphetamine from a tractor-trailer entering Canada at Coutts, Alta., in February 2023. Another 245 kilograms of methamphetamine was seized from a second tractor-trailer at the same crossing that April.

Police came to believe Singh was involved in facilitating the intercepted shipments and obtained a warrant to track the movements of his cellphone.

On the morning of the traffic stop, investigators learned Singh’s phone had travelled overnight from Edmonton to Winnipeg, remained there for about four hours and then started returning west toward Edmonton.

Staff Sgt. Ryan Smart, the commander of Project Intuitive, provided Giannoulis with information about the investigation and asked him to conduct a lawful traffic stop.

Giannoulis, a member of the RCMP’s Roving Traffic Unit with specialized training and extensive experience detecting illegal drug transportation, was told Singh was tied to two large border drug seizures and involved in an ongoing drug investigation. He was also told police were tracking Singh’s cellphone under a warrant.

At approximately 9 p.m., Giannoulis and Const. Kyle Castelin positioned themselves along Highway 16 near Maidstone. About 20 minutes later, they located the westbound vehicle and stopped it for excessively tinted windows.

During the stop, Giannoulis observed that both men appeared unusually nervous. Grewal, who was driving, initially said they were travelling from Saskatchewan and then said Saskatoon, despite tracking information showing the westbound portion of their journey began in Winnipeg.

Giannoulis also noticed a relatively large object covered by a blanket in the back seat. He had previously encountered people using blankets to conceal contraband inside vehicles.

When Grewal was asked to leave the vehicle, he said, “we got the car like that,” which Giannoulis interpreted as an attempt to distance himself from it.

After the men were detained for investigation, Castelin told Giannoulis that Singh appeared extremely nervous and had not answered an incoming call displaying no caller identification.

Giannoulis considered those observations alongside the cellphone data, the brief stop in Winnipeg and the information connecting Singh to the larger drug investigation. He then arrested both men and searched the car.

Justice Jeffery Kalmakoff, writing in the unanimous Aug. 20 decision, said the circumstances had to be assessed collectively and in context, rather than individually.

The court noted that a return journey between Edmonton and Winnipeg covers about 2,600 kilometres. It found the short turnaround and Grewal’s inaccurate account of their route were particularly significant when considered from the perspective of an officer familiar with drug-courier travel patterns.

Kalmakoff said circumstances that could have innocent explanations when considered separately may increase the probability of criminal activity when they occur together.

“The inference that Cpl. Giannoulis drew about Mr. Singh and Mr. Grewal transporting illegal drugs was not the only one he could have drawn from the facts known to him at the time of the arrest but, considering those facts cumulatively, contextually, and in light of his training and experience as a police officer, it was a reasonable inference,” he stated.

The appeal court ruled the arrests were lawful and did not violate the men’s rights under section 9 of the Charter.

It also found the legal error materially affected the original verdicts because Singh and Grewal would not necessarily have been acquitted without it.

The Court of Appeal did not enter convictions. It set aside the acquittals and ordered a new trial, with a date yet to be confirmed.

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Kenneth.Cheung@pattisonmedia.com

by Kenneth Cheung

Acquittals overturned, new trial ordered in 155-kilogram drug seizure near Maidstone

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