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The minister also alleged in the letter that “this group is known to police to traffic narcotics between the United States and Canada … and is involved with the Hells Angels, Japanese Mafia and Chinese criminals,” according to Randhawa’s application.

While the two associates are not named in the court documents, Randhawa’s eldest brother Alexie was arrested in California in 2008 with 107 kilograms of cocaine. He served four years of his five-year sentence before returning to Canada and his job as a Vancouver longshoreman in November 2012.

And Randhawa’s middle brother Alvin, also a longshoreman, has been charged in New York State with six counts of smuggling and distributing both cocaine and marijuana. He consented to committal for extradition in B.C. Supreme Court last November and is awaiting a decision by Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould on whether he will be sent to the U.S.

U.S. court documents say that decision is expected by May 6.

The New York indictment alleges Alvin Randhawa and three other Canadians were involved in smuggling marijuana across the border and into the state between 2007 and late 2010, as well as exporting cocaine from the U.S. into Canada from 2007 until May 11, 2011.

Both Arun and Alvin wrote reference letters for the L.A. judge in Alexie’s case when he was being sentenced.

Arun called Alexie his “best friend and mentor.”

“We come from a respected family within our community and were raised with love, compassion, morals, responsibility and honour,” Arun wrote, adding that both he and Alvin “look up to Alexie for his strong sense of knowledge, integrity and leadership skills.”

Arun Randhawa says in his appeal documents that the minister “erred in law, exceeded his jurisdiction and overstepped the bounds of ministerial discretion in making his decision that there were reasonable grounds to suspect that Randhawa poses a risk to marine security.”

“The minister erred in failing to give due weight to Randhawa’s explanations for the alleged events and associations,” the documents say.

kbolan@postmedia.com

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