A Canadian judge has set free a man accused of smuggling $13.2 million of cocaine into Canada because, she wrote, strip searches like the one used to arrest him have been “analogized to a ‘visual rape.'” Justice Jennifer Bezaire of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice stayed all charges against Harinder Singh Saini on May 22, 2026, after finding that Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers violated his Charter rights seven times. Saini had been accused of importing more than 120 kilograms of cocaine through Windsor’s Ambassador Bridge in October 2023.
Saini, a commercial truck driver, attempted to enter Canada from the United States at around 12:05 a.m. on October 29, 2023. His name had been flagged for suspected tobacco smuggling, sending him to secondary inspection. There, officers found five stacks of Canadian $20 bills, $10,000 in total, in his truck cab. Saini initially denied carrying that much cash. Around 12:45 a.m. he admitted to the amount, telling officers he needed it because his fleet cards weren’t working.
Officers patted him down, took him into custody, and strip searched him before he had a chance to speak with a lawyer. According to the ruling, Saini was made to stand completely naked while officers searched his hair and behind his ears, and was told to “lift his genitals and bend over to reveal his rectum.”
“Strip searches are one of the most intrusive manners of search and extreme exercises of police power,” Justice Bezaire wrote in her 38-page decision, according to the Windsor Star published July 21, 2026. “They have been analogized to a ‘visual rape’ and may be experienced by some as the equivalent of a sexual assault.”
Saini’s truck was towed to an offsite location at 4:13 a.m. Bags of cocaine were found in the trailer by 9:13 a.m. The drugs, seized before reaching Canadian streets, carried an estimated street value of $10.8 million to $13.2 million.
A border officer left a message with duty counsel at Saini’s request at 1:55 a.m. Counsel called back roughly 35 minutes later — after the strip search had already taken place. Justice Bezaire called the delay “disturbing.”
“This reflects a complete ignorance of the significance of providing a detainee with the right to counsel,” she wrote. “The officers either did not care about Charter rights, or they were not adequately trained or informed of those rights.”
The judge found officers lacked reasonable and probable grounds to conduct the strip search at all, and that it was carried out “in the most degrading and humiliating manner.” Neither the officers’ training nor CBSA’s strip-search policy at the time of the arrest complied with the Supreme Court of Canada’s 2001 ruling in R. v. Golden, which set strict limits on strip searches. CBSA updated its policy in 2024, but Justice Bezaire found both officers involved in Saini’s search were still unaware of the update when they testified in early 2026 — a fix, she noted, that appeared to exist “on paper only and not in practice.”
“The harm to the system in allowing the trial to proceed in the face of the egregious Charter violations far outweighs the seriousness of these offences,” Justice Bezaire wrote. A stay of proceedings was “the only remedy capable of redressing the harm.”
Saini had faced charges of importing cocaine, possession for the purpose of trafficking, two counts of possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000, and failing to report to an officer — charges that could have carried a life sentence. His trial had been set to begin in June 2026.
In a statement to the Windsor Star, CBSA said it “is reviewing the judge’s ruling to assess any implications and actions to take to strengthen our policies and programs.”
Saini’s lawyer, Rafik Kodsy, said he hopes the ruling will push CBSA to “take the necessary steps to implement the policy changes.”
“This demonstrates to our society that their Charter protected rights are important and that they will be protected by the courts,” Kodsy said.
