Reliability of trucker’s testimony key as $3.5M Blue Water Bridge cocaine bust trial wraps up

Both sides agreed the case against a Brampton trucker accused of trying to smuggle $3.5 million in cocaine across the Blue Water Bridge two years ago was circumstantial.

Harvinder Singh’s lawyer, Gurpreet Dhaliwal, pointed out his client’s fingerprints weren’t found on two suitcases containing about 62 kilograms of cocaine Canada Border Services Agency officers found while inspecting his tractor-trailer at the Sarnia-area-Michigan crossing on March 31, 2021.

Singh, of Brampton, then 25, was charged by the RCMP with importing a controlled substance and possessing a controlled drug for trafficking. He pleaded not guilty to both charges last week in Sarnia’s Superior Court of Justice.

Dhaliwal argued Wednesday the explanations offered by his client on the stand this week about potentially suspicious aspects of his return long-haul trip from the US made sense.

The trailer seal that didn’t match the manifest? That was a mistake.

The US phone numbers calling and messaging him while he was at the border? Those were fellow truckers he’s friends with.

His dirty socks? He took off his slippers to climb on top of dusty pallets in his trailer for a pre-trip safety inspection before leaving the XPO Logistics warehouse. But Singh never saw the cocaine-filled suitcases during his inspection and had no idea they were there.

“His version does make sense. It’s plausible. It’s reasonable,” Dhaliwal told Superior Court Justice Kirk Munroe in his final submissions Wednesday after the week-long trial. “The accused’s evidence was candid and truthful. In my submission, you should believe his evidence.”

Federal prosecutor Rick Visca did not agree.

Singh’s version of events “shouldn’t be believed,” he told the judge.

Visca pointed to Singh’s explanation of why he took off his slippers and walked atop the pallets with just socks on.

“It’s unbelievable that it made sense to remove his footwear,” he said.

Visca’s theory was Singh had to take his slippers off so he’d have better traction to carry the heavy suitcases across the pallets before placing them on a smaller pallet near the nose of the trailer.

“That’s the most logical explanation for why he walked barefoot,” he said.

Singh’s dirty socks and footprints inside his trailer loaded with bags of carbon black, a powdery substance commonly used as a pigment and reinforcing agent in vehicle tires, were the focus last week as a handful of border officers tested.

Visca also argued Wednesday – based on Singh’s evidence – there was a very small window of time when someone else could have planted the suitcases in his trailer. Singh tested he returned to his cab for about 25 minutes after the inspection before pulling away from the dock, closing the doors and attaching the seal.

Along with this narrow window, Visca argued it was unlikely someone would have entrusted Singh with that much cocaine without him knowing about it – the so-called blind courier defence.

He also believed the US-based phone numbers contacting Singh via phone calls and messages before and during his inspection at the bridge belonged to drug contacts.

Dhaliwal, though, reiterated his client’s testimony: he was talking to a friend and a fellow trucker, who has a US phone number because it’s cheaper, as he drove up to the bridge that morning to help him stay awake. They talked for about half an hour and Dhaliwal argued he didn’t know why a drug dealer, especially one at a potentially high level, would talk to a contact for that long.

“That just doesn’t make sense to me,” he said.

Dhaliwal also argued his client putting the wrong seal on the trailer – the numbers were close, but didn’t quite match the manifest – was simply a mistake, as he’d tested. But Visca said of the eight seals he had in a bag with him, he picked the two that were the most similar.

This was no accident, he argued.

“It was deliberately planned that way,” Visca said.

Munroe had an exchange with Dhaliwal about the two seals during his submissions. Speaking hypothetically, the judge said the plan could have been to get through the border, cut off the wrong seal, remove the drugs and attach the correct one before heading to the Toronto-area destination.

Dhaliwal countered that going through customs with the wrong seal raises suspicions and runs a higher chance of being inspected.

“This being a circumstantial case, your honour, I could go on forever with these hypotheticals,” he added.

Visca also pointed to various news articles on Singh’s phone about trucker drug-trafficking cases, arguing he was doing research. But Dhaliwal reminded the court what Singh had said on the stand about some of those stories: that he’d only looked at the pictures and hadn’t read the articles.

The case was adjourned until August, when Munroe is expected to deliver his decision. Singh, who listened to the lawyers’ closing arguments via Punjabi interpreters, remains free on bail in the meantime.

There have been at least seven major alleged drug busts involving truckers on the Canadian side of the Blue Water Bridge since March 2021, including six in 2022.

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@ObserverTerry