JUDGE THROWS OUT COCAINE CASE

A Drug Case That Began At The Aldergrove Border Crossing Has Foundered
On Constitutional Grounds.

In a ruling that cuts to the heart of how Canadian border guards do
their jobs, a provincial court judge has ruled that the rights of a
man charged with smuggling 50 kilograms of cocaine into the country
were violated when he was searched at the Aldergrove border crossing.

Justice Ellen Gordon ruled Friday that border officers - who routinely
question travellers and search their vehicles - violated three
sections of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms when they
interrogated Ajitpal Singh Sekhon and dismantled the truck he was
driving without a search warrant.

The ruling means the drugs seized must be excluded from the evidence
against Sekhon.

Federal prosecutors have already filed an appeal.

Sekhon, a Canadian citizen, tried to enter Canada on Jan. 25, 2005.
The border guard decided Sekhon was suspiciously tense and sent him to
be questioned in the customs office, where he was locked inside while
another inspector searched the truck.

Guards found a false compartment below the truck bed, at which point
Sekhon was informed that he would be detained and that he had the
right to legal counsel.

However, Gordon concluded that Sekhon had been detained from the
moment he was locked inside the office, violating sections 9 and 10 of
the Charter, which prohibit arbitrary detention and guarantee the
right to a lawyer.

Gordon's judgment says inspectors eventually dismantled the vehicle to
find 50 bricks of cocaine.

But the most important part of the ruling is Gordon's conclusion that
guards violated section 8 of the Charter - freedom from unreasonable
search or seizure - since they never applied for a search warrant.

The Customs Act allows warantless searches if there is reasonable
suspicion. But the judge wrote that officers followed a "lucky hunch,"
not reasonable suspicions, in launching their search.

But she said the key to the ruling was that the customs act includes
provisions for a search warrant, and there was no reason they couldn't
have applied for one.

Sekhon's lawyer Lawrence Myers said the ruling is ground-breaking,
saying: "It's the first decision that I'm aware of that defines
individual rights in conjunction with the Customs Act since 9/11."