Trucker busted at Windsor-Detroit border with $3M cocaine cargo

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By: Brad Hunter

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DETROIT — Yet another trucker accused of trying to smuggle high-octane cocaine into Canada has been arrested and charged at the Ambassador Bridge linking Detroit and Windsor, U.S. officials said.

Gurshinder Singh, believed to be from Brampton, was charged with possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance in a criminal complaint filed Friday, May 9, in U.S. District Court in Detroit.

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Singh made an initial appearance and was temporarily detained. A detention hearing was set for Monday, but the outcome is unknown.

The Detroit Free Press, citing federal officials, reported that Singh allegedly was hauling more than $3 million in cocaine.

According to an affidavit, Singh tried to exit the United States for Canada on Friday around 6:15 a.m. Instead, he was pulled over by U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Detroit Contraband Enforcement Team, who were conducting outbound enforcement.

Upon inspection, investigators allege they discovered more than 173 kilos (380 pounds) of suspected cocaine in his tractor-trailer. The tractor and trailer had Ontario plates.

According to the Free Press, Singh claimed he was en route to Canada from Wisconsin with a one-night layover in Indiana. Once he emerged from the truck in Detroit, he was taken into custody.

In the truck’s passenger-side toolbox compartment of the trailer, U.S. Customs discovered Home Depot moving boxes hidden behind rubber mats. Inside, officers found vacuum-sealed, duct-taped brick bundles consistent with narcotics packaging.

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Singh reportedly asked the border agents as the handcuffs were slipped onto his wrists: “What’s going on? Am I under arrest? Was there something in the Home Depot boxes?”

Indeed, there was. Eight Home Depot boxes were seized, and the bundles were weighed. Narcotics testing on three of the bundles tested positive for cocaine.

Investigators said that Singh’s phone was later examined and revealed he was in contact with a mystery number via Signal. Communication with the number began on May 6.

One message received stated: “Bro next load mera Friday deliver ho rea.”

The next message suggested: “So may be we caneet Thursday evening or night.”

On May 8, Singh was directed to a truck stop in Indiana. Homeland Security said the conversation was an effort to coordinate a meeting between Singh and the mystery man.

The special agent wrote in a memo: “The volume of controlled substances and the manner in which they were being transported from the United States to Canada is indicative of a broader drug trafficking effort that is involved in the further distribution of the controlled substances.”

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He added: “Because of the extremely high value of the drug shipment, every individual involved in the transportation of cocaine is known and trusted by the organization and reimbursed monetarily by the organization.”

During the past year, there have been many arrests of truck drivers attempting to smuggle cocaine, fentanyl and guns into Canada. Both the Ambassador Bridge and the Bluewater Bridge linking Sarnia and Port Huron, Mich., have been hotspots.

Most of the truckers nabbed have been from the Greater Toronto Area.

On April 20, 193 pounds was seized from a Canada-bound truck, where several bricks of cocaine were concealed in two duffle bags in the trailer.

In February, a truck driver was charged with suspected cocaine weighing more than 240 pounds in his semitruck as he tried to return to Canada from Detroit.

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