SARNIA — More than a year after a trucker was accused of trying to smuggle cocaine worth up to $2 million into Canada over the Blue Water Bridge, a second person is charged in the same probe with conspiracy to import cocaine.
At least 16 major drug seizures have been made on the Sarnia-area side of the international bridge with Michigan in the last five years, including more than half a tonne of cocaine found packaged in bricks in a truck trailer a year ago.
On April 11, 2023, in the seizure involving the new conspiracy charge, more than 45 kilograms of cocaine was intercepted at the bridge. The Canada Border Services Agency confirmed the seizure at the time, but directed other questions to the RCMP who declined to comment.
The cocaine was likely worth between $1.2 and $2 million, multiple sources said.
Border officials did not identify the suspect at the time, but court documents showed a 30-year-old Mississauga man, Lakhan Singh, was charged with unlawfully importing cocaine and possessing it for the purpose of trafficking.
Another person was recently charged in the same investigation, court records show. Harpreet Malhi, 43, of Brampton, is charged with conspiring with Singh and/or others to import cocaine into Canada between Feb. 1, 2023, and April 15, 2023, importing cocaine and possessing it for the purpose of trafficking.
“As this case is currently before the courts, the RCMP will not be providing any details specific to this case,” a police spokesperson wrote by email when asked to comment on the new charges and why they were laid one year later.
Malhi, who’s being held in custody, had a scheduled bail hearing this week.
Singh was granted $150,000 bail in June 2023.
There have been at least 16 major drug busts — all but one involving trucks — on the Sarnia-area side of the bridge since 2019. A trucking firm boss and two others were recently charged with conspiracy after authorities found cocaine valued at more than $5 million in a trailer.