'A mere courier': Windsor judge sentences Brampton man to 12 years in prison

Mohamed Ahmed Abdirahman, 40, was previously convicted of importing and possessing 200 kilograms of pure methamphetamine.

Officers with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) at the Ambassador Bridge discovered the drugs on Christmas Eve 2019 in the cab of Abdirahman’s transport truck.

The drugs were in 200 individual packages stored in seven boxes and two plastic totes, the court estimated the drugs would be worth four million dollars if sold by the kilogram, or $29 million if sold by the gram.

“The offence itself is aggravating; (importing) an extremely large quantity of damaging drugs,” Justice Bruce Thomas said Wednesday.

During the trial and in his pre-sentence report, Abdirahman maintains he did not know the drugs were in his truck.

Although there were dozens of communications on his phone with a contact named ‘El Chapo’, Justice Thomas found there was no proof Abdirahman was more than “a mere courier”.

Still, Justice Thomas called Abdirahman’s defence “fanciful speculation” when he convicted him in May.

“The purpose of this specific activity can only be seen as an attempt at commercial profit and personal gain.” He gave Abdirahman credit for not breaching any of his bail conditions for 51 months, the fact he is a first-time offender with a solid marriage and two teenage children and he has the support of his Somalian community in Brampton.

Justice Thomas felt however, the offence needed to send a public message to the broader community. "Not all trucks can undergo significant inspection. North American trade is vital to the economy of both countries. A message must be sent to truck drivers, who might consider a quick gain by criminal importation.”

Federal prosecutor Richard Pollock had asked for a sentence between 16 and 18 years in prison.

“A 12 year sentence is a pretty lengthy term of incarceration,” Pollock told CTV News outside the courthouse. “There's no question that a 12 year sentence, is a deterrent to other drivers, to other people that think that they might get involved in this activity.”

Defence lawyer Jessica Grbevski said Abdirahman is ‘content’ with the sentence.

She had asked for a sentence of 10 to 12 years, noting anything more than that is ‘extreme’ and would have been ‘redundant’.

“When someone who’s never been in jail spends all this time in custody and then adding the significant time to it, what more does that do for rehabilitation to deter people? It’s not going to do any benefit to anyone,” said Grbevski.

She noted as well, there’s “a bigger issue at play”, with truck drivers being targeted by criminals who seek to use their rigs to move drugs across the border.

“It’s a wake-up call, it’s pretty serious,” Grbevski said.

When he is released from custody Abdirahman will have a firearms ban for 10 years and he must submit a DNA sample to the law enforcement database.