By Canadian Press

Crown says it was reasonable for border screening to precede Meng’s arrest

Mar 24, 2021 | 12:47 PM

VANCOUVER — A lawyer for Canada’s attorney general says it was entirely reasonable for border officers to question Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou before her arrest in 2018. 

Diba Majzub told the B.C. Supreme Court that Meng’s arrival at a port of entry created a unique context where both the RCMP and Canada Border Services Agency had mandates to fulfil.

He says there’s no playbook or operations manual that spells out which organization should go first.

Majzub made the comments as he disputed claims from Meng’s legal team that Canadian and U.S. officials co-ordinated a covert criminal investigation under the guise of a routine border exam.

Meng’s legal team is asking the judge to stay proceedings in her extradition case because they argue her charter rights were violated at the airport. 

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Majzub says the border officers made the decision to go first based on their routine experience and without any direction from the RCMP or the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 

“Someone had to go first,” Majzub told the court on Wednesday.

“We say their decision was reasonable.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 24, 2021.

The Canadian Press