Canadian couple Swati Narula and Kunwardeep Singh walk free after 8kg fentanyl bust; charges stayed due to ‘lack of public interest’

Two Calgary residents were arrested after police found nearly eight kilograms of fentanyl hidden in their vehicle during a traffic stop on a highway in Saskatchewan (Canadian province).According to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the drugs were seized on January 28, 2025, during a patrol. Officers stopped a vehicle on Highway 1, part of the Trans-Canada Highway.During a search of the vehicle, officers discovered around eight kilograms of fentanyl concealed beneath the spare tyre. Police detained the two occupants of the vehicle as part of a drug trafficking investigation.The suspects were identified as 27-year-old Swati Narula and 29-year-old Kunwardeep Singh, both residents of Calgary, Alberta. Authorities said the pair told investigators they were travelling to Regina at the time of the traffic stop.Both Narula and Singh were charged with each facing one count of trafficking a controlled substance and one count of possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking. They appeared in Swift Current Provincial Court on January 29, 2025.Kunwardeep Singh was released on bail on February 20, 2025, with a $25,000 bond. Swati Narula was released on March 4, 2025, on a $10,000 cash bond with rules to give up her passport, follow a nightly curfew, and stay within 100 km of her sister’s home in Calgary. Singh’s bail conditions were later loosened to allow him to resume work as a truck driver in Calgary.Moreover, all charges against them were stayed — Narula on February 24 and Singh on February 27. In Canada, stayed charges can be restarted within one year, but if not, the case ends. A stay means the Crown has decided there is little chance of conviction or that continuing the case is not in the public interestPolice described the seizure as significant due to the extreme potency of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that has contributed to overdose deaths across Canada. RCMP Superintendent Grant St. Germaine said even a few grains of fentanyl can potentially cause a fatal overdose. He said the seizure prevented “potentially millions of doses” of the drug from reaching communities.