A cross-border drug smuggling trial has now started for three Windsor men, all charged with conspiracy to commit an indictable offence.
Ram Shura, 44, is facing 15 charges, Saroop Pahal, 30, is charged with four offences and Gurjit Kooner, 30 , faces two indictments.
The offences stem from a multi-law enforcement agency investigation from 2003 to 2014.
The three men were arrested and charged at various times, between 2015 and 2016.
They are accused of conspiring to export marijuana to the United States and import cocaine into Canada, across the Windsor-Detroit border.
Federal crown prosecutor Richard Pollock alleges the men conspired with Gurfathe “Ladi” Kooner, 33, and Karandeep Dadiala.
Dadiala is one of the prosecutor’s witnesses, who told police, including a detective with the Ontario Provincial Police, that on three to four occasions, he picked up a transport with marijuana and crossed into Michigan.
He claims the drugs were then taken to various U.S. states including Illinois and California.
Dadiala told police he was once paid $40,000 to move the drugs from Windsor and throughout the U.S.
What did not come up during testimony in Superior Court on Wednesday is what role the three accused men played in the offences, although Pahal’s defence lawyer says they were not the transport truck drivers.
One of the suspects is still not in police custody.
Kooner has been “unlawfully at large” since April 2016, and is wanted by both Windsor police and the OPP.
