Kelowna drug dealer who arrived as international student being deported to India

A street-level cocaine and fentanyl dealer in British Columbia who arrived in Canada as an international student is being deported back to India.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

A street-level cocaine and fentanyl dealer in British Columbia who arrived in Canada as an international student is being deported back to India.

After serving a 30-month prison sentence for three trafficking convictions, Mandeep Pandher, 26, found out he will be heading back to his home country during a sentencing on Tuesday.

“Given the ever-increasing destructive force of the opioid epidemic affecting this country, and the widespread, unremitting, and bloody-minded willingness of drug traffickers to exploit at-risk populations and communities at all points on the compass sentences for those who choose to traffic in fentanyl have to be ramped up across the board,” B.C. Supreme Court Justice Gary Weatherill said to Pandher.

Crown counsel Mark Chiu told the court that a removal and exclusion order was already in place for Pandher on what was supposed to be the first date of his trial. Regardless of his sentence, Chiu said, Pandher was going back to his home country.

Chiu told the court that Pandher initially came to Canada on a student visa and had been studying at the University of Toronto. However, once he dropped out, he violated the terms of his visa, putting him on a path toward deportation.

Details about what transpired between his departure from university and his immersion in Kelowna’s drug scene were not disclosed in court. Still, it was suggested that he embraced that lifestyle with notable eagerness.

Following a months-long investigation, authorities arrested Pandher on May 17, 2022, near a stash house in Kelowna.

At the time of his arrest, officers found 92 small bags of drugs on him, which included 10 grams of fentanyl, three grams of crack cocaine, and 157 grams of cocaine.

Yet in court, Pandher struck a different tone. He referenced philosophers and classic literature while expressing remorse, seemingly trying to reconnect with the academic path he once pursued.

After a months-long investigation, Pandher was taken into custody on May 17, 2022, near a known drug stash house in Kelowna.

At the time of his arrest, police found 92 individually packaged bags of drugs on him, containing a total of 10 grams of fentanyl, three grams of crack cocaine, and 157 grams of cocaine.

In court, however, Pandher appeared to draw on his academic background, expressing remorse through references to classic literature and philosophy.

He told the court he had spent the years leading up to his trial reading extensively, naming Socrates, Camus, Plato, Sigmund Freud, and Dostoevsky as key influences who challenged him to “confront the truth.”

“It was humbling and helped me see how easily we lose ourselves when we stop being honest, especially with ourselves,” he said.

Despite Pandher’s remarks, the court remained unswayed in sentencing. While Crown prosecutors sought a three-year term and the defence argued for a two-year conditional sentence, the judge opted for a middle ground, emphasizing the seriousness of the offence.

Pandher had been arrested with two others connected to the same drug operation. One co-accused is currently serving a prison sentence, while the other—his wife—has been deported to India.

Defence lawyer Nick Acker told the court the couple continues to maintain regular communication despite being separated by continents.