Fugitive drug trafficker captured in Canada sentenced to 7 years
SEATTLE – A former Seattle-area man who fled to Canada during his 2009 drug trial was sentenced June 17 to seven years in federal prison on charges stemming from an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
Kaushal Kainth, 27, formerly of Renton, was convicted in absentia of conspiracy to distribute Ecstasy after he fled in the middle of the third day of his trial and before closing arguments began.
Kainth was arrested in Canada earlier this year and extradited to the U.S. to face sentencing. His co-conspirator Hardeep Singh, 25, formerly of Kent, who also fled following the first day of trial, was arrested in Canada in 2013 and sentenced to seven years in prison in 2014.
“The thorough investigative work of HSI agents in combination with our law enforcement partners prevented the supply of a significant amount of illegal drugs to the United States,” said Brad Bench, special agent in charge for HSI Seattle. “This sentence is another example of the impact our law enforcement partnerships have in bringing justice to criminals.”
According to testimony at trial and records filed in the case, in May 2009, Kainth and Singh agreed to pay a man to deliver large amounts of Ecstasy and another drug, BZP, to co-conspirators at the Southcenter Mall in Tukwila and in San Jose, California. The delivery man, who was working with HSI, recorded both defendants on audio and video. In all, Kainth and Singh gave the delivery man nearly 285,000 pills worth more than $2.8 million, which were seized by HSI.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington prosecuted the case.
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