100 kg of cocaine was found by Border Service Officers in a commercial truck crossing the US/Canadian border at the Blue Water Bridge port of entry in Port Edwards, Ontario, CA on December 11, 2022. The truck driver, Vikram Dutta, 44 from Brampton, Ontario, and passenger Gurinder Singh, 61 also from Brampton, Ontario were arrested.
On December 11, 2022, the commercial truck was crossing the US/Canadian border traveling from Michigan, USA to Sarnia, CA. Canadian Border Service Agency and Royal Canadian Mounted Police members inspected the truck and decided to move the vehicle to secondary examination. During this examination, they discovered 89 bricks of drugs. Analysis revealed that the drug is cocaine. The total amount of all 89 bricks was 100 kg.
Dutta and Virkam were immediately arrested. They are accused of importing cocaine and possession of drugs for trafficking.
RCMP officials released a statement to the media about the drug seizure and subsequent arrests. The estimated value of the seized cargo is about $6 million.
The prosecutor, in this case, is Howard Piafsky from the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, an independent government body tasked with prosecuting federal offenses and providing legal advice and assistance to law enforcement.
Dutta is of Indian origin. From November 2016 to May 2022, he was the director of V Hall Transport in Brampton. He then moved to Tracking Nation. No information can be found on his passenger, Singh.
Last year, there were 6 major alleged drug busts at the Blue Water Bridge border crossing. Five of the arrests were related to truck drivers. About 265 kilograms of heroin, pink cocaine, and methamphetamine, worth $47m, was found in a vehicle on January 13. The drugs were found in garbage bags and the spare tires of a commercial truck.
The second major seizure was on April 8, when 60 kilograms of cocaine were found in a commercial truck’s trailer. June 21 was the third major seizure when 100 bricks of cocaine were found in suitcases in a transportation truck.
The fourth seizure was a major one when 188 bricks with 224 kilograms of drugs with a street value of about $9.4 million were found in a truck’s load.
This drug seizure is the fifth in the last year.
The last major drug seizure was just days after the discovery of these 89 packages of cocaine. Then cocaine was also seized, but the police have not yet announced the details of this case.
Canada’s public safety minister, Marco Mendicino, visited the Blue Water Bridge border crossing to see the work of the officers on site.
Both defendants from the drug seizure at the Blue Water Bridge crossing on Dec. 11. were granted bail. Lawyers for the accused, Dutta and Singh, said evidence is still awaited in the case. Certainly, the 100 kg of cocaine found in a truck crossing the US/Canadian border will not reach the streets thanks to the border police.
