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Or sign-in if you have an account.Justice Michael K. Wendl said the removal order had stood since 2022, yet CBSA never acted on it. Photo by Nick Brancaccio /POSTMEDIA NEWS ARCHIVESAn Ontario judge says he has no confidence the Canada Border Services Agency will deport a repeat LCBO thief, despite a standing order to remove him.Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.Unlimited online access to National Post.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.Unlimited online access to National Post.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorJustice Michael K. Wendl said the removal order had stood since 2022, yet CBSA never acted on it.“Ultimately, I have no confidence that the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) will actually deport (Manjeet) Singh,” Wendl said in the June 23 decision. “Put bluntly, a deportation order has been in place for nearly four years. During that time, he has been in custody on serious criminal charges, under which CBSA could have readily located and removed him, yet no action has been taken.”The CBSA acknowledged a request for comment but did not respond by publication deadline.Get a dash of perspective along with the trending news of the day in a very readable format.By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.The next issue of NP Posted will soon be in your inbox.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againWendl said Singh spent about 45 days in custody in 2024 and more than five months in 2025, on charges including robbery and theft over $5,000, yet was not removed either time.Wendl said the inaction may change how courts treat deportation at sentencing. The judge said that going forward “the bare assertion of potential immigration consequences, without supporting evidence, may no longer suffice for a court to find that collateral immigration consequences are established.”The criticism came as Wendl rejected a 90-day sentence the Crown and defence had jointly proposed for Singh and imposed 12 months instead, roughly four times as long. The deal had rested on the expectation that Singh, who is in Canada without status, would be deported once he served his sentence.Judges are supposed to accept joint sentencing deals unless the sentence would bring the justice system into disrepute. Wendl said the 90-day deal would.Singh, 30, came to Canada in 2016 to study culinary arts and developed a drug addiction during the pandemic, the decision said. He has a criminal record dating to 2021 and has been under a removal order since October 2022.He pleaded guilty to two counts of theft under $5,000 from the LCBO and one count of breaching probation by entering one. On June 3, 2025, he and two others walked into an LCBO in Hamilton, filled a cart with 14 bottles of whisky and left without paying. About 90 minutes later they did the same at a second LCBO in the city, taking 25 bottles of vodka and whisky. The haul came to $3,268.30, none of it was recovered.Singh was barred from every LCBO in Ontario under a probation order at the time.The thefts were not isolated. Singh has pleaded guilty to similar thefts from LCBOs and Home Depots in other jurisdictions and was already serving an eight-month sentence when Wendl sentenced him. The judge said he was travelling the province and targeting certain retailers.“This is an organized and systematic campaign targeting LCBO with the intent of stealing thousands of dollars’ worth of alcohol,” Wendl said, adding the LCBO is taxpayer-owned and its losses fall on every Ontarian. Wendl said Canadian retailers lose more than $4 billion a year to crime.Wendl imposed 12 months on the theft counts and 60 days for the breach of probation, to be served at the same time. Organized theft from the LCBO, Wendl said, “will be severely sanctioned.”Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here. Join the Conversation This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.