Data shows that CBSA seized more than $75M in cocaine at southern Ontario ports of entry.
A trucker on trial for allegedly transporting roughly $2 million of cocaine across the Canada-U.S. border is claiming to have no knowledge of what was in the trailer,
according to his defence lawyer.
The trial for 33-year-old Ranjit Singh of India started Monday in Sarnia’s Superior Court of Justice.
Singh, who’s in Canada on a work permit, is charged with importing cocaine into Canada as well as possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
The entire trial centres around two Home Depot boxes found inside Singh’s truck where the 40 kilograms of cocaine was located.
Defence lawyer Terry Brandon concedes that the truck Singh was driving contained cocaine, but she said her client wasn’t aware.
My client has no knowledge what was in the trailer,
said Brandon.
In April of 2024, the RCMP says Singh made a delivery to the U.S. and then picked up pallets from three different locations before heading back to Canada.
Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers pulled Singh into secondary inspection just after 2 a.m. on April 26, 2024 at the Blue Water Bridge near Sarnia.
Within Singh’s truckload, there were six pallets — mostly containing Harry’s razors, federal Crown Sharon Reynolds said in court on Monday.
However, the two Home Depot boxes were packed differently than those pallets, according to lead RCMP investigator Const. Tai Lam’s court testimony.
Accused stopped at Home Depot prior to crossing the border, court hears
Roughly four hours before crossing the border back into Canada, Lam said GPS records and dashcam footage show that Singh stopped at Home Depot in Illinois for roughly 15 minutes.
A receipt and banking records also show Singh made a purchase at that Home Depot, according to Reynolds.
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