Ontario trucker found guilty in 200-kg meth smuggling case

A Toronto-area man has been found guilty of trying to smuggle nearly 200 kilograms ofmethamphetamine into Canada at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ont., in 2019.

At the time, the Canada Border Services Agency estimated the value of the drugs at more than $25.5 million and said the seizure constituted "the largest methamphetamine seizure, on record, for the CBSA within the past seven years."

Mohamed Ahmed Abdirahmanwas convicted Friday in a judge-alone trial oncharges of importing methamphetamine and possession of thedrug for the purpose of trafficking.

His lawyer, Jessica Grbevski, said it was too early for tocomment on whether an appeal would be sought.

According to the decision, CBSA officers seized 196.7 kilogramsofmethamphetaminefrom inside the cab of a tractor-traileron Dec. 24, 2019. Abdirahman, who lived in Mississauga at the time he was charged, wason a 14-day return trip to California for his Brampton, Ont.-based employer.

After Abdirahman was selected for secondary screening at the border, officers came across multiple containers of"containing a white crystal substance" that testing later confirmed was methamphetamine.

The officers were wearing personal protective equipmentduring the search in part becausethe drug created anoverpowering odour "described as a smell similar to nail polish, which was irritating to the nose and eyes,"Justice Bruce G. Thomas wrote in the decision.

A retired RCMP officer who spoke at the trial as an experttestified thatmethamphetamine of this quality100 per cent pure could be worth anywhere between$4.5 million or $29.4 million, depending on whether it was sold by the gram or the kilo.

There was acknowledgment thatthe drugs were found inAbdirahman's vehicle, but at issue in the casewaswhether he knew about the methamphetamineand was responsible.

The defence put forward alternate explanationsof what happened, including the idea that someone else might have planted the drugs withoutAbdirahman's knowledge.

Grbevski,Abdirahman'slawyer,declined to comment further on those arguments, but in referencetothe outcome,said, "We did everything we possiblycould in thesituation that it was."

Abdirahmanhad callswith contact dubbed El Chapo

According to the decision, it was Abdirahman's third trip as truck driver for thecompany. At one point, the decision states,Abdirahmantook a 22-hour break that involved crossing the border into Mexico and taking an Uber under the name Zack Moris.

He also communicated by phone with someonedubbedas El Chapo.

"The [cellphone] extraction report shows over 80 communications with El Chapo from Dec. 2, 2019, to Dec. 23, 2019, with 14 calls on Dec. 23, 2019, the day before Abdirahman's border crossing."

Thomas, the presiding justice,found the Mexico trip, the communication with El Chapoand the Zack Moris aliaswere"suspicious" but unnecessary to support a finding of guilt.

No fingerprints could be extracted from the evidence seized. But the justice concluded that a roll of tape found in a compartment behind the driver's seatmatched the tapeused on one of the boxes of drugs suggesting the box was sealed by the accused himself.

Thomas acknowledged the Crown's case was circumstantial, but said the evidence was "overwhelming."

"There are no plausible theories or reasonable possibilities based on logic and experience that raise a reasonable doubt," he wrote.

A sentencing hearing is set for the end of June, Grbevski said. She hopes the judge considersAbdirahmanhas two young childrenand is the primary breadwinner of his family.

"That's very important. He has no criminal record. This is thefirst time before the courts," Grbevski said.

Abdirahman, who has been out on bail since 2019,was also able to abide by those conditions without issue, she said.