Ontario man going to prison for drug conspiracy

BUFFALO, N.Y.-U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that Mohamed Patel, 40, of Ontario, CA, who was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute morphine, was sentenced to serve 42 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo.

Between October 2019 and September 11, 2024, Patel conspired with co-defendant Bashir Kasozi, and others, to possess with intent to distribute morphine. Patel arranged for bulk quantities of morphine tablets to be imported into the United States from India and paid multiple individuals in the Western District of New York to receive the controlled substances and store them at their residences. Subsequently, Patel employed Kasozi, a truck driver, to retrieve the morphine tablets and deliver them via tractor trailer across the border to him in Ontario, Canada.

On August 22, 2024, 62 packages of morphine tablets were delivered from India to the Western District of New York. On August 23, 2024, Kasozi, acting at the direction of Patel, entered the United States to collect the packages. That evening, Kasozi arrived at the Lewiston Bridge Port of Entry with a tractor trailer, with the 62 morphine packages concealed. During his outbound inspection, Kasozi told Customs and Border Protection that he had been in the United States for three days, and that he was coming from Massachusetts with a load of paper, and did not have anything to declare, including prescription or nonprescription narcotics. During a secondary inspection, the 62 packages were discovered and Kasozi was arrested.

On August 30, 2024, Patel arranged for an additional 26 to 28 morphine packages to be received in the Western District of New York, which he would pick up in the United States. On September 11, 2024, Patel traveled from Canada to the United States, arriving at the Lewiston Bridge Port of Entry. Patel did not retrieve the morphine packages as scheduled and was taken into custody upon attempting to return to Canada.

Patel admitted that between October 2019 and September 22, 2024, he imported multiple shipments of morphine tablets into the United States from locations in India, and that a number of those shipments were seized by law enforcement at the John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City, FedEx, the Canadian border, and from various individuals in the Western District of New York.

Bashir Kasozi was previously convicted and is awaiting sentencing.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney P. Richard Antoine. The sentencing is the result of an investigation by Customs and Border Protection, under the direction of Director of Field Operations Rose Brophy, and Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Anthony Patrone.

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