A truck driver is out on bail while three others, including the head of a Brampton trucking firm, charged with conspiracy to import cocaine are still in jail on the heels of a Blue Water Bridge drug bust officials have valued at more than $5 million.
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Border officers on the Canadian side of the twin-span bridge connecting the Sarnia area and Michigan found about 460 kilograms – almost half a ton – of cocaine packaged in bricks in a trailer being hauled by a suspect on June 11, an RCMP spokesperson said. The weight is approximate and includes the packaging, but the estimated street value – a conservative figure representing sale at the kilogram level – is $5.5 million, the spokesperson said.
The probe, which discovered the cocaine in 27 bags, started June 11 and continued into June 12, a Canada Border Services Agency spokesperson added.
Jasdeep Brar, 34, from Brampton was arrested and charged with importing cocaine and possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, court documents said. But three more people – Inderpreet Singh, 26, Manideep Singh, 26, and Beant Bhatti, 35, all from the Toronto area – were arrested several days later and charged with the same two offences along with an additional count of conspiracy to import cocaine, records show. Brar is also now facing the conspiracy charge, which is dated from April 15 to June 15.
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The RCMP spokesperson declined to provide any information about the three additional accused and the conspiracy charge they all now face.
Following a full-day bail hearing for Brar on June 20, Justice of the Peace Kelly Jackson returned with her decision on June 24, where she ordered his release. The reasons for his decision, along with all the evidence heard at the hearing, are covered by a publication ban that will be in effect until his trial is over.
Brar’s lease plan could cost up to $50,000 if he’s caught breaking any of the rules. They include full house arrest with GPS tracking. He can only leave home if he’s with one of his two sureties, going to the hospital or going to court, but he can’t ever leave Ontario.
He also has to surrender his passport to the RCMP and can’t apply for a new one. Additionally, he can’t have care or control of a commercial vehicle.
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Brar’s case returns to court Sept. 4.
Bhatti, who is listed as the key principal for Brampton-based Royal Bhatti Transport Inc. on a business directory website, Inderpreet Singh and Manideep Singh are all still being held at the Sarnia Jail as their lawyers work to set up bail plans. They’ll return to court next week.
All four accused have been banned from talking to each other while in or out of jail.
This is the third tractor-trailer drug smuggling case linked to the Canadian side of the Blue Water Bridge this year. Two drivers in their 30s, both from Toronto, were charged in March and April, respectively, also with importing cocaine. They both were granted lease, the latter for $200,000.
There have been at least 16 major drug busts – all but one involved trucks – on the Sarnia-area side since 2019. The majority of the cases were tied to cocaine, but border officers have also seized heroin and methamphetamine.
Just last week a Toronto trucker was found guilty of importing $3.6 million of cocaine across the bridge in 2022 and will be sentenced later this fall. A Brampton trucker was recently sentenced to 11 years in prison and a non-trucker from Brantford was also imprisoned 11 years.
On Friday, a 26-year-old Brampton trucker was found not guilty of all the charges he was facing linked to a $47-million drug bust at the bridge in January 2022.
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