A 26-year-old international student from India who came to Canada to pursue higher education has been sentenced to 11 years in prison after pleading guilty to trafficking fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine, as well as possessing the proceeds of crime.
It is reported that Jatinderpal Singh became entangled in one of Saskatoon’s drug networks after he fell into financial difficulty.
Court heard that Singh was lured into the trade in mid-2024 with promises of easy money, only to be caught within a month in a police sting that exposed the scale of the operation.
Singh arrived in Canada on a study permit in 2022 and enrolled at a university in Ontario. He successfully completed his first year but was unable to afford tuition for his second year. His visa eventually expired, leaving him in debt and without legal status.
In a written decision, Judge Lisa Watson said Singh began borrowing from friends and family and had planned to return to India in November 2024. Instead, a “friend of a friend” offered him a way to make between $10,000 and $12,000 a week by selling drugs.
It is reported that Singh contacted the group on the encrypted messaging app Signal, and within ten days a plane ticket was purchased for him to travel to Saskatoon. By the time he arrived in July 2024, he was directed to a Thriftlodge Hotel room where large quantities of narcotics and cash were already stored. Singh told the court he wanted to stop selling just days before his arrest, but the group refused to release him until a replacement was found.
The Saskatoon Police Service launched a surveillance operation after receiving intelligence about a network known as “the Leo Line,” which supplied dealers with large volumes of drugs.
It is reported that officers observed Singh meeting people at the Thriftlodge and conducting transactions that looked like wallet exchanges. On 30 August 2024, police moved in. Singh was arrested and found with drugs and a hotel key. Inside his room, police discovered more than two kilograms of fentanyl and its analogues, over five kilograms of methamphetamine, half a kilogram of cocaine, and $77,546 in cash. The drugs were valued at more than $70,000 on the street.
Federal Crown prosecutor Carleen Ready argued for a 12-year sentence, emphasising the seriousness of fentanyl trafficking at a time when Saskatchewan continues to battle a drug overdose crisis. Singh’s legal aid lawyer, Cory Rediron, sought a five-year sentence, noting that his client had no prior criminal record and had been under financial strain.
In her 4 September decision, Judge Watson described Singh as a “crucial player” in a high-level trafficking network. She dismissed the suggestion that he was merely a low-level dealer, pointing to detailed score sheets and cash-handling practices that suggested otherwise. “He has contributed to the public health crisis in this province,” Watson wrote.
“Those who choose to profit from the misery of the public for personal gain must be sentenced in accordance with the severity of the harm they have caused.”
Singh was sentenced to 11 years in prison. With credit for time served in custody, he has just over 10 years left behind bars. When his prison term ends, Singh will be deported to India — a “significant collateral consequence,” Judge Watson noted, but one that she considered only to a limited extent in weighing his sentence.
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