3 other victims named in Saskatoon cocaine-fentanyl overdose case

Three other people suffered bodily harm from fentanyl-laced cocaine allegedly trafficked by three men in Saskatoon last year, according to a signed indictment filed in court Wednesday.

That’s in addition to four people who are said to have died from ingesting the tainted drugs — bringing the total number of victims associated with the case to seven.

Three men — Shervin Beeharry, Japmanjot Grewal and Azim Kabani — are accused of manslaughter, criminal negligence causing death and criminal negligence causing bodily harm.

All the charges stem from March 10, 2018, when the Saskatoon Police Service responded to three overdose incidents involving six victims: four men, two women.

At the time, police warned the public there was a risk that cocaine sold by a dealer nicknamed “Lil Joe” or “Joe Bro” may have been laced with fentanyl and could cause a lethal overdose. Police also took the unusual step of listing a phone number associated with that person.

Later on March 10, police arrested the first of the three accused men. The other two men were arrested the next day.

The manslaughter and criminal negligence charges will be addressed during a trial in the Court of Queen’s Bench.

Other weapons and drugs charges facing Beeharry and Grewal were the subject of a Provincial Court trial this past April. That trial was to continue in June, but was postponed to July 24 after the defence received a significant amount of disclosure documents from the Crown. 

Weapons and some drugs charges facing Kabani had been withdrawn.