Vancouver taxi driver used his cab to make cocaine deliveries: judge

It was a Thursday night in the summer of 2021 and a man was in the backseat of a taxi going through downtown Vancouver on a supposedly "normal" ride.

Only that passenger was found by police to be carrying 211 grams of cocaine in his backpack and the taxi driver had more than $1,600 in cash in his wallet and shirt pocket.

This week, a B.C. Supreme Court judge found the driver, MD Rafiqul Islam, guilty of one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking. 

Justice Heather MacNaughton further found that Islam was knowingly involved in a "dial-a-dope" trafficking operation and actively facilitated it by driving two men to and from their drug deliveries. 

She dismissed Islam's arguments that he had no knowledge of any drug trafficking and that the activities in his taxi were "normal."

"His evidence is patently excusatory, stretches credulity, and has an obvious air of fabrication. I find that the general thread of Mr. Islam's evidence does not accord with common sense or human experience," MacNaughton said in her decision.

The court decision reveals details of a nearly two-week police surveillance operation, condos that were used to stash fentanyl, meth and hundreds of thousands of dollars, and a "hierarchical relationship" between the taxi driver and the two men.

'Sorry boss'

The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) began investigating Islam after getting a tip from a confidential informer that a taxi was being used to distribute drugs around the Lower Mainland, according to the decision.

Islam, who said he had been a taxi driver for nearly 30 years, was criminally charged along with Jordan Trembley and Charles Flynn who were found to be operating a drug trafficking network. Flynn was the passenger riding with Islam when they were busted with cocaine.

Islam insisted the two men were just regular repeat customers of his taxi. But Justice MacNaughton found Islam "had an entwined and involved working relationship with these men that went beyond that of an ordinary private taxi client and driver."

Islam had several numbers on his phone to reach Trembley and Flynn, some that he saved in his contacts as "WORK" and "WORK 2," according to the decision.

MacNaughton pointed to text messages that she said showed that Trembley and Flynn exerted control over Islam. He called the men "boss" on multiple occasions. 

During another exchange, Islam apologized for missing work because he had a vaccine appointment to which one of the men replied, "Sorry doesn't fix the fact that I'm f****** busy and need you."

Police surveillance showed that Islam would regularly drop off and pick up Trembley and Flynn from two condo buildings. The judge found that two units in those buildings were the men's "stash houses."

Fentanyl, meth, cash

VPD executed search warrants at the units in June 2021 and found, among other items, a combined total of about 13 kilograms of fentanyl, about 10 kilograms of meth, over four kilograms of cocaine and about $320,000, according to the court decision.

Police also found items commonly used to help make illicit drugs, including a blender, strainers, metal plates, respirators and goggles, the decision said.

Flynn was found guilty of one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking and has been sentenced to three years in jail and handed a 10-year firearm prohibition.

Trembley was found guilty of two counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking and one count of possession of a firearm without a license. He's scheduled to be sentenced in July.

'This defies common sense'

Security camera footage from inside Islam's taxi obtained by police and officers' surveillance notes showed that various people would have very short interactions with Trembley and Flynn, lasting from about five seconds to two minutes, during which cash, envelopes and packages would be exchanged, according to the decision.

Police surveillance also showed that Islam would drive Flynn and others to destinations that were only a few blocks away.

Islam claimed that was normal but MacNaughton was not convinced.

"This defies common sense. Individuals walk one or two blocks; they do not take a taxi," she said, calling Islam an "active participant" in the dial-a-dope operation.

Islam is set to appear in court next Wednesday to schedule a sentencing date.