Michael DelGobbo

The three accused were charged with conspiracy to traffic cocaine, trafficking cocaine, and possession of proceeds of crime following an RCMP undercover operation.

The Crown's case relied heavily on voice identification evidence from intercepted communications to link the accused Shanker to the conspiracy.

The court found the voice identification evidence unreliable due to cross-racial identification issues, expectation bias, and the poor quality of the recordings.

Without reliable voice identification, the circumstantial evidence of the accused's presence at the warehouse was insufficient to prove their involvement in the drug trafficking scheme beyond a reasonable doubt.

All accused were acquitted of the cocaine-related charges.

Pawar conceded guilt to a separate charge of possessing opium for the purpose of trafficking.

The accused brought a motion to quash a search warrant and exclude evidence under s. 24(2) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, arguing that the Information to Obtain (ITO) contained misleading information and material omissions.

The warrant authorized a search of the accused’s rural property, resulting in the seizure of marijuana plants, firearms, and other drug-related items.

The court applied the Garofoli framework to assess whether the issuing justice could have granted the authorization based on the record, including information provided by multiple confidential informants.

The court found the informants’ information to be credible, mutually corroborative, and sufficiently detailed to establish reasonable and probable grounds.

The motion to quash the warrant and exclude the evidence was dismissed.