Community leader in drugs smuggling bid

[GurSa Singh]

Does anyone know more about this? As ever the UK media love these kind of stories. Notice how the headline reads a 'leading member of the Sikh community'.

How do we let people like this be given the label of community leader? How active was this guy in the Sikh Sangat? Was he a GurSikh?

http://www.wellingboroughtoday.co.uk/ViewA...rticleID=797799

Community leader in drugs smuggling bid

A leading member of the Sikh community has admitted trying to smuggle more than £1,200 of heroin and cannabis to inmates at Wellingborough Prison.

Gurcharn Singh, 55, was arrested when prison officers launched a crackdown in August on staff and ministers visiting people in the Category C training prison.

He pleaded guilty at Northampton Crown Court yesterday to three drug dealing charges and was ordered to surrender his passport as part of his bail conditions.

Singh visited members of his community once a week because he had been appointed by the Sikh Missionary Society to administer to followers as an elder of three temples in Bedfordshire.

Singh, of Kempston, near Bedford, was found to have almost £900 of heroin and both resin and grass cannabis but initially denied any knowledge of the drugs, claiming he did not know what he was taking inside.

He had been due to stand trial yesterday, having pleaded not guilty in April, but changed his pleas at the last minute to admit three offences of possession with intent to supply on August 19.

Michael Joyce, prosecuting, said Singh was subjected to a spot-check search which uneart

hed 4.4 grams of heroin and about 22 grams of cannabis. This was worth about £1,250 by prison prices.

He had acted as a mobile shop, Mr Joyce said, for Sikh prisoners and when arrested the guards also found a mobile phone, top-up cards and a charger, along with two bottles of aftershave.

Judge Richard Bray adjourned the case for reports but warned a prison sentence was likely.

He said: "Sadly, this is a serious matter so there is no indication what the eventual sentence might be."

The judge released Singh on bail with conditions of residence and co-operation with preparation of reports and ordered him to surrender his passport to Greyfriars Police Station in Bedford within 48 hours.

Rupert Mayo, defending, said Singh had been given an airmail letter to take into the prison, unaware it contained drugs.

Sentencing will take place in July.

27 May 2004

[Nama Singh]

Singh visited members of his community once a week because he had been appointed by the Sikh Missionary Society

ok maybe this is the reason why he is called a community leader. The papers wud call it that. i think maybe the Sikh Missionary Society needs to be looked into and partially blamed - why was he given that position? did he have previous experience? did he have education? was he trained? was his background checked? i bet u the answers wud be NO because nowadays, there are a lot of "desi" organisations who operate for the sake of operating.