A 47-year-old woman, who has worked as a Punjabi radio and TV host in Canada for the past 10 years, has been sentenced to 5.5 years in jail after she was caught red-handed smuggling meth from the US in 2021. The verdict was handed down recently after Sukhwinder Kaur Sangha pleaded guilty to importing drugs, which police estimate were worth between $1 million and $10 million. Her lawyer said she was forced to commit the crime in order to pay someone who was threatening to kill or harm her then-teenage son if she did not pay $150,000, the Vancouver Sun reports. Sangha’s lawyer asked for two years or less of house arrest and three years of probation, while the prosecutor was seeking 10 to 12 years in prison.
Attempt to import medicines in 2021
On October 18, 2021, Sangha drove a rental car with Florida license plates through the US-Canada border in Surrey. She showed her Canadian passport and told officers she had gone to Washington for her aunt’s funeral. A Canada Border Services Agency officer asked her to stop so his car could be searched, but she sped away.Another border officer chased him and honked at him, forcing him to eventually slow down. Officers found a dirty duffel bag with drugs and two iPhones and a wiped iPad. Sangha made three similar trips to America in August, September and October that year. It is not known whether he imported drugs on those trips as well.
Who is Sukhwinder Kaur Sangha?
Sangha was born in Prince George. He was trained as a pharmacy technician and worked in that role for some time. He then worked as a producer and broadcaster of the Punjabi language for a decade. She interviewed politicians, police officers and celebrities as a host, and was an active community member, outspoken against youth crime and drug use. A single mother of three, Sangha also takes care of her ailing 78-year-old mother. The prosecutor stressed that if such crimes are not adequately punished, gangs will use individuals like Sangha with the promise that they will not receive long sentences if caught.
