A former Pearson baggage handler has been sentenced after police discovered $12 million worth of cocaine
The man was first arrested over an altercation in a high school parking lot
A Mississauga man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to drug and weapons charges. A former baggage handler at Pearson International Airport, Rashid Al-Hasan was arrested in 2024 over threatening to shoot a person who had made a disparaging remark about his sister.
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According to the Toronto Star, the altercation began in a high school parking lot, and Al-Hasan told the individual, while revealing a firearm, “I’ll put one in you right now, this is my block.”
The incident led police to search Al-Hasan’s vehicle, where they found a loaded gun, a black ski mask, two cellphones and 10 kilograms of cocaine concealed in a shopping bag.
At his home, police found 107 kilograms of cocaine, 3,865 grams of meth, $1,725 in cash, three additional cellphones and a money counter.
An expert consulted by the Star said the cocaine would be worth $12 million if sold on the street.
Al-Hasan’s 10-year sentence is less than the Crown’s requested 15, but Justice Paul Monahan said in his sentencing decision that it seemed clear Al-Hasan was not the mastermind.
“His behaviour in carrying a loaded handgun in connection with the alleged disparagement of his sister and while driving a motor vehicle with an easily visible licence plate shows a total lack of sophistication, a lack of maturity and judgment and a high degree of carelessness,” he said. “These are not the actions of a man directing a major drug operation.”
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
An earlier version of this article referenced a report stating that the judge in this case was Patrick Monahan. In fact, it was Justice Paul Monahan.
