LOS ANGELES, CA –Punjabi origin Guramrit Sidhu has been sentenced to two decades for major Cross-Border Smuggling. Sidhu, a Canadian man who led a sophisticated drug trafficking network spanning the U.S.-Canada border, has been sentenced to two decades behind bars in federal prison. Guramrit Sidhu, a resident of Brampton, Ontario, received the 20-year term from U.S. District Judge John A. Kronstadt in the Central District of California, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said Sidhu directed an organisation that purchased large quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine in the United States and smuggled them north into Canada for distribution between September 2020 and February 2023. During a key period in fall 2022, authorities intercepted eight separate shipments orchestrated by Sidhu. Those loads contained roughly 523 kilograms of methamphetamine and 347 kilograms of cocaine, more than 850 kilograms total, with a wholesale street value estimated between $15 million and $17 million. The drugs were concealed in long-haul semi-trucks crossing the border.
Court documents detail how Sidhu provided couriers with specific phone numbers and serial numbers from U.S. currency bills to confirm identities and coordinate safe handoffs during pickup and transport. Once the shipments arrived in Canada, Sidhu and his associates would collect the narcotics from drop locations and move them into local distribution networks.Sidhu entered a guilty plea on March 26 to one count of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise.
He has been in federal custody since his extradition from Canada in October 2024 and marks the eighth defendant in the case to plead guilty.Other convicted members of the ring have received sentences ranging from just over two years to nine years in federal prison.The multi-year investigation was a joint effort involving U.S. and Canadian authorities, including the FBI, Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles Interagency Metropolitan Police Apprehension Crime Task Force, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs assisted with Sidhu’s extradition.This sentencing underscores ongoing efforts by law enforcement on both sides of the border to dismantle high-volume drug trafficking organizations exploiting the U.S.-Canada trade routes.