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Toronto: Canadian law enforcement has sought an Interpol red notice for an Indo-Canadian who has been sentenced for drug trafficking and is believed to have fled to India.
In a release on Wednesday, the Federal Serious & Organized Crime (FSOC) unit of the British Columbia detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said that 60-year-old Raj Kumar Mehmi, from the town of Surrey, was sentenced in absentia to serve a total of 15 years in prison for smuggling 80 kilogrammes of cocaine into the province.
He was attempting to bring in the contraband from the United States. On November 6, 2017, Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers found 80 sealed bricks of cocaine, worth an estimated 3.2 million Canadian dollars secreted in the truck he owned and was driving.
He was then arrested by the FSOC’s Waterfront Joint Force Operation and charged for importation of a controlled substance and for possession for the purpose of trafficking. On September 6, last year, a British Columbia Supreme Court judge found him guilty and a sentencing hearing was fixed for January this year.
However, Mehmi fled to India, boarding a flight from Vancouver to New Delhi in October last year.
On November 16 this year, a judge of the Surrey Provincial Court of British Columbia sentenced him, in his absence, to a cumulative 15 years in prison.
The release said a Canada-wide arrest warrant has been issued for Mehmi, while the Interpol red notice (also called a red corner notice) “is being sought as a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest Mehmi, pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action”.
Mehmi was described in a separate release as 185cm in height (just over six feet tall) and weighing 91 kilogrammes.
“Our officers are the first line of defence in keeping illicit drugs from crossing Canada’s borders and we are proud to work with the RCMP to ensure those who break our laws are held accountable. The seizure of over $3 million of cocaine at our Pacific Highway border crossing and the subsequent 15-year conviction are a direct result of the strong partnership between our organisations and the diligent work of our officers,” CBSA Pacific Region director Holly Stoner said.
