A Surrey, B.C. man with alleged ties to the international drug trade has been sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison in the United States for conspiracy to export methamphetamine, court documents show.
Opinder Singh Sian, 38, was arrested in July 2025 and held in custody in connection with allegedly attempting to traffic 530 pounds of methamphetamine from Los Angeles to Australia.
Sian entered a plea agreement on Nov. 12 in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
In the plea agreement obtained by the Surrey Now-Leader, it states that Sian admitted to “knowingly and intentionally” conspiring to export “at least 50 grams of methamphetamine” from the Port of Long Beach, California, to Sydney, Australia between Sept. 27, 2022, and Oct. 22, 2023.
During that time, Sian “coordinated the delivery of the methamphetamine on behalf of co-conspirators” to a person he believed would facilitate the transport of the illegal synthetic drug to Australia.
This person was a confidential informant working “at the direction of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA),” according to the court documents.
Sian and his associates arranged for four drop-offs to an undercover DEA agent, which would be shipped off to Australia. Sian created several group chats with the source and his criminal associates to arrange the deliveries – which included “12.91 kilograms of methamphetamine on June 22, 2023; 80.3 kilograms of methamphetamine on July 6, 2023; 40.6 kilograms of methamphetamine on August 21, 2023; and 86.9 kilograms of methamphetamine on August 28, 2023,” the document reads.
Sian and his associates were under the belief that the confidential informant had planned to export the drugs to Australia.
Sian agreed to the provided statement of facts and that he “knowingly and intentionally participated” in the conspiracy to export 220.7 kilograms of methamphetamine.
Court documents allege that Sian is an “alleged member of a criminal gang” and had links with the Irish organized crime Kinahan family and Italian and Canadian organized crime groups. The Vancouver Sun noted that Sian was also linked to the B.C.-based Brother Keepers gang.
United States District Judge David Carter sentenced Sian on May 13, 2026, in the Central District of California.
The court recommended he serve his sentence at FCI Oakdale II, a low-security federal correctional institution in Oakdale, Louisiana. However, court records show him still in custody at the Los Angeles MDC (Metropolitan Detention Center).
Sian was also ordered to pay the United States “a special assessment of $100,” court documents state. Any fines have been waived because the court found he is unable to pay them.
He will also be under a probation order with several conditions for two years after his release, which includes not having any firearms or dangerous weapons, not using any illegal controlled substances and participating in substance abuse treatment and counselling.