Pubdate: Wed, 08 Jan 2014
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2014 The Vancouver Sun
Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Kim Bolan

FROM COP TO COCAINE KINGPIN

Ex- Mountie Rapinder Sidhu, a. k. a. Pony Tail, was part of a vast
drug smuggling scheme, U. S. prosecutor says

His criminal nickname was Pony Tail and he went from being an
undercover drug cop to an international cocaine smuggler.

The transformation of former B. C. Mountie Rapinder ( Rob) Sidhu from
law enforcement to criminal mastermind should be a key consideration
when he is sentenced in a Seattle courtroom Friday, according to
Assistant U. S. Attorney Sarah Vogel.

"Rapinder Sidhu was a high-ranking member of a well-organized, long-
running international conspiracy that was responsible for the
transportation and exportation of enormous quantities of cocaine from
the United States into Canada," the prosecutor said in a just-filed
sentencing memo. Vogel said when Sidhu resigned in disgrace from the
RCMP in 2003, "he organized and choreographed an entire cast of
characters who moved enormous quantities of cocaine, with great
success, thousands of miles."

"Even more troubling, according to several of his co-conspirators, he
exploited the violence of the criminal organizations with which he was
allied to intimidate them and others into doing his bidding," she said.

"He turned to his former adversaries in organized crime and sold them
his specialized knowledge, with absolutely no regard for the outcome
in his local community or the effect on society in general."

She didn't name any crime group in her 12- page memo, but in related
cases, U. S. prosecutors have said the drug gang worked with B. C.
Hells Angels.

Vogel submits Sidhu got a big break when he negotiated a plea deal
last October that recommends a sentence of between six and eight years
for his role in smuggling hundreds of kilos of cocaine into Canada.

Normally someone with a leadership role in such a massive criminal
operation would land in jail for more than 17 years, she said.

"It is important to note that the stipulated range of six to eight
years' imprisonment represents a hard-bargained compromise," Vogel
said, adding that the U. S. Attorney "believes that a sentence of
eight years is the absolute minimum sentence that satisfies the law in
light of the specific facts and circumstances of this case."

She also said Sidhu is minimizing his involvement in the drug ring
that was broken up in 2008 with dozens of arrests and indictments on
both sides of the border.

"Sidhu and his defence counsel are working very hard to try to
convince probation and this court that he was just a pawn in a scheme
run by others," Vogel noted.

"The truth, which cannot be ignored, is that unlike any of the other
leaders in his vast scheme, Rapinder Sidhu was a former law
enforcement officer. He was specially trained in investigating exactly
the type of criminal he later became. He used his special knowledge
and skills, obtained through that privileged position, to earn for
himself and his criminal associates large sums of money in the
international cocaine trade."

Vogel said two drivers caught with a total of 478 kilograms of cocaine
in 2007 and 2008 incidents both told police that Sidhu was their boss.

One of the drivers told police that Sidhu threatened him, saying: "I
know your wife, your wife's dad and family."

"This driver accurately identified Sidhu from a photograph, and knew
that his BlackBerry nickname was ' Pony Tail,' " Vogel said.

Also troubling was Sidhu's recruitment of a young border guard to
allow drug shipments into B. C. Jasbir Grewal was later caught and
sentenced to five years.

"He contributed to the corruption of a fellow law enforcement officer,
a younger kid he knew from his home neighbourhood, who in turn
sabotaged his own career and livelihood. Unlike Sidhu, the inspector
has repeatedly expressed what appears to be sincere remorse," Vogel
said.

She said Sidhu's sentence must reflect what others in the gang have
received. Former Abbotsford resident and gang leader Rob Shannon got
20 years. Some of the drivers who Sidhu got to haul the drugs in an RV
and minivan got 12 years, Vogel noted.

"Sidhu's acceptance of responsibility has been marginal, and his
attempts to recast his role as one of a pawn in this vast conspiracy
are inconsistent with all the other facts gathered by this
investigation," she said.

Sidhu, 46, has two fraud convictions in B. C. and is wanted in Quebec
for obstructing an officer. He was also charged and acquitted in B. C.
of impersonating a homicide cop to illegally obtain addresses for the
Bacon brothers from a police computer.

Sidhu had a company in B. C. called IMAX Investigational Group, but
moved to Montreal in 2012 in the middle of his trial on the
impersonation charge.

Vogel said in her sentencing memo Sidhu's "only reported assets are
not in his name."

Sidhu's lawyer has also filed a sentencing memo with supporting
documentation - including a letter Sidhu has written to U. S. District
Court Judge Robert Lasnik.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt