Sukhvinder Shoker, 43, the owner of B.C.’s Careful Movers and Delivery Services, was handed a three-year sentence and three years of probation in U.S.

Sukhvinder Shoker, 43, the owner of B.C.’s Careful Movers and Delivery Services, was handed a three-year sentence and three years of probation in U.S. District Court in Seattle on Friday for acting as a drug mule.Shoker’s truck was stopped at the Pacific Highway border crossing on Oct. 10, 2009 as he tried to re-enter Canada. During a search of the trailer, border officers found a compartment behind false walls. Inside were 24 cardboard boxes containing 76 kg of cocaine, worth an estimated $2.28 million U.S. on the street.Shoker initially told agents he had agreed to move the boxes in several shipments to pay off a debt to a California man. He conceded that while he didn’t know what specifically was inside, that he knew its contents were illegal and probably drug-related.Special Assistant United States attorney Adam Cornell urged for a significant sentence for Shoker, arguing a spate of gang-related violence in the Lower Mainland in 2009 meant Shoker’s conduct “had the potential to compromise the safety and security of others in his community.”Shoker told the court through tears that the recession had forced him into the criminal scheme, thereby ruining his business and forcing him to face bankruptcy.