A 42-year-old Williams Lake man who has prior convictions of drug trafficking will be sentenced in Williams Lake Supreme Court on four new counts for possession for the purpose of trafficking following four days of RCMP surveillance in 2016.
Members of the North District Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit received information from a confidential informant in August 2016 that an East Indian male named Jas who lived near the TRU Williams Lake campus and drove a blue car was trafficking cocaine and heroin.
The RCMP sole handler for the informant believed that the information received referred to Jasbir Pawar who has previous convictions from 2002 and 2011.
Acting on this information, the North District CFSEU initiated surveillance of Pawar on four days from September 27 and October 13, 2016.
“During the surveillance, officers observed Mr. Pawar engaged in behavior that they believed was consistent with street-level drug trafficking,” Justice Madam Church said Friday in Williams Lake Supreme Court.
“They observed Mr. Pawar drive from his residence to various locations including a suspected drug house and engage in very brief interactions with unknown persons who were individuals that would either get into Mr. Pawar’s vehicle and remain inside for less than a minute or  would approach the vehicle and interact with Mr. Pawar through an open window for 30 seconds or less.”
“They observed Mr. Pawar drive his vehicle to locations that were either believed to be drug houses or believed to be occupied by drug addicts. They also observed driving behavior that they believed was consistent with counter-surveillance.”
On October 13, 2016, at approximately 9:55 pm Williams Lake RCMP observed what they believed to be a drug transaction taking place in the parking lot of CIBC bank. Officers moved in and Pawar was arrested for the possession of a controlled substance for the purposes of trafficking. He was searched incidental to his arrest and found in possession of 0.5kg of cocaine and four twenty dollar bills.
Pawar was then transported to the Williams Lake RCMP detachment, and officers prepared information to obtain a search warrant for his residence on Western Avenue.
“Shortly after Mr. Pawar’s arrest and prior to obtaining the search warrant, officers attended Mr. Pawar’s residence, spoke with his mother, and advised her they had to clear the residence while they were waiting for the search warrant,” Church said.
“Officers entered the residence and waited while Mr. Pawar’s mother and brother left the residence. They determined that there were no other persons inside the residence and then left the residence and waited outside until the search warrant was granted.”
Officers executed the search warrant at 3:43 am on October 14, 2016, and seized various quantities of cocaine both in rock and brick form, MDMA in both rock and pill form, psilocybin (magic mushrooms), and approximately 20 kg of marijuana. They also seized $20,000 in excess in Canadian currency, $650 in counterfeit currency, a digital scale with cocaine residue, and score sheets.
“Mr. Pawar’s fingerprints were found on several of the ziplock bags containing controlled substances.”
In an application filed January 14, 2019, Pawar applied for an order that evidence obtained in the search incidental to the arrest and following the execution of the search warrant be excluded on the basis that his section 8 and 9 Charter Rights were violated by police.
Under the Constitution Act, 1982, everyone has the right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure, and everyone has the right not to be arbitrarily detained or imprisoned.
“The evidence sought to be excluded is real evidence including a large number of controlled substances and items associated with drug trafficking such as digital scales and packaging materials, as well a quantity of Canadian currency and counterfeit currency and score sheets,” Church said.
“This is highly reliable evidence that is essential to the prosecution of these offenses.”
Pawar is scheduled to return to court Monday, February 11 to fix a date for sentencing.
He was sentenced to four years in jail for drug trafficking on May 11, 2011. Â Williams Lake RCMP said after executing a search warrant on September 16, 2010, at a residence in the 1200 block of Western Avenue officers located a ‘drugstore’ of illicit controlled substances, over 1.5 kilograms of cocaine, over 10 pounds of marijuana, 6279 ecstasy tablets, and half a pound of psilocybin.