TWO TRUCKERS CLEARED OF SMUGGLING COCAINE

Two Toronto-area truckers accused of smuggling $5 million in cocaine
into Canada in a load of lettuce at the Ambassador Bridge in 2005
have been acquitted and will be reunited with their families.

Parminder Singh Chouhan, 39, and Gurjeet Singh Padda, 27, hugged
defence lawyer Patrick Ducharme and quickly exited the courtroom
Wednesday to phone home and announce they would soon be on their way,
after Ontario Court Justice Roderick Flaherty ruled they were free to go.

"I'm very happy," said a beaming Padda, when asked for his reaction.
"I will try to find a good job now."

"I've been in for nine months and I just want to see my daughter
soon," added Chouhan, who was arrested Oct. 3, 2005, the day he said
he was expecting to take the child in for dental surgery.

In delivering his verdict Flaherty said the Crown case, based heavily
on circumstantial evidence, failed to satisfy the court beyond a
reasonable doubt that the two men were guilty. While he acknowledged
there were aspects of the truckers' testimony he found troublesome,
he said much of what the Crown relied upon could be explained more
innocently than the conduct of drug smugglers.

Drivers Nervous

He said testimony by Canada Customs officers that the drivers may
have appeared nervous or anxious when answering questions at the
border crossing, and later at the secondary inspection area, could
have been explained by the fact the men, who have been in Canada for
about six years, spoke poor English and were nervous about answering
probing questions from uniformed officers due to their "Third World"
experiences.

Flaherty agreed with the defence argument it was possible the two men
were just "dupes" of larger players in a cocaine smuggling cartel who
had no knowledge that two boxes containing 50 kilograms of cocaine
were stashed amid boxes of lettuce.

Flaherty noted the two men's role appeared to be driving the load
from California, where it was loaded by others, and taking it across
the border. But then they were to leave it for the truck's owner
Balhar Singh Dhillon, 25, to make the final delivery.

"It was not necessary for them to know the drugs were in the truck
for the enterprise to be successful," said Flaherty.

But the judge said the men's explanation of why they decided to
return from Salinas, Calif., by taking a southerly route through Los
Angeles was less than convincing.

The men explained that road construction on the more direct northerly
route on Interstate Highway 80, forced the detour, which took
hundreds of miles and several hours. The Crown had suggested the trip
south may have been to load the drugs, which the judge said was supposition.

"I was not surprised," Ducharme said of the verdict. "I'm really
happy for these gentlemen. I know it sounds corny but I really did
believe what they said. They were unwilling dupes used by other
dastardly people to perpetrate a serious crime. I hope the
authorities go after those people."

Federal prosecutor Richard Pollock said the Crown will consider an
appeal "given the seriousness of the case" and added it remains under
investigation.

"The issue of illicit cross-border trade in drugs is serious," he
said. "And to the degree that commercial truckers may be involved
should concern the public."