An Ontario court has convicted 33-year-old commercial trucker Ranjit Singh of importing 40 kilograms of high-grade cocaine into Canada after border officers intercepted his shipment at the international boundary.
The narcotics carried an estimated street value between $3.6 million and $4.8 million. Ontario Superior Court Justice Scott Pratt delivered the verdict Monday in Sarnia, dismantling the Toronto-area driver's claims that an unidentified opportunist planted the illicit cargo while he stepped away to use a rest stop bathroom.
The ruling followed a three-week trial held in June. Delivery of the judicial decision took an hour.
The defendant will be found guilty of both charges.
Scott Pratt, Ontario Superior Court Justice
The border seizure unfolded on April 26, 2024. Canadian border officers inspected Singh's commercial tractor-trailer as it crossed the Canadian side of the Blue Water Bridge, an international crossing connecting Port Huron, Michigan, to Point Edward and Sarnia, Ontario.
Tucked inside the trailer were two cardboard boxes packed with 40 kilograms of bricks of cocaine. The packages sat stashed within a freight pallet alongside regular commercial merchandise.
Crown prosecutors meticulously traced Singh’s journey across the American Midwest before he steered his rig toward the frontier.
The cross-border route began in Illinois. Prosecutors showed that Singh met another truck driver at a Pilot Travel Centre in Channahon, Illinois, where he took receipt of the narcotics packages. From there, Singh drove to a Home Depot retail store in Shorewood, Illinois, where cash register logs and surveillance confirmed he purchased the cardboard boxes used to pack the drugs.
He then headed northeast to Michigan. At a commercial transport yard on Sanders Road in Lansing, Singh loaded the drug-filled boxes onto his trailer and concealed them within legitimate palletized cargo.
Singh mounted a vigorous defence on the stand over multiple days of testimony. He acknowledged that Canadian authorities recovered the 40 kilograms of cocaine from his rig. Yet he adamantly denied any criminal intent or foreknowledge.
His story pinned the blame elsewhere. Singh told the court that his transport company's owner directed him to buy the cardboard boxes and transfer them to another truck at the Lansing yard. He claimed he spotted a suspicious stranger in the yard, left his rig unlocked and unattended for 10 to 15 minutes to use the toilet, and suggested the narcotics were planted in his trailer without his knowledge.
Justice Pratt dismantled that alibi as implausible and littered with fatal inconsistencies.
The judge accepted the prosecution’s reconstruction, ruling that Singh obtained the cocaine at the Channahon travel plaza. But Justice Pratt emphasized that the exact American interchange where the handoff occurred was legally inconsequential to the Canadian charge. The narcotics crossed into Ontario inside Singh's trailer, and the evidence proved Singh knew the cocaine was on board.
| Case Parameter | Official Status |
|---|---|
| Accused | Ranjit Singh, 33 (Commercial Truck Driver, Toronto) |
| Adjudicating Court | Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Sarnia, Ontario) |
| Presiding Judge | Justice Scott Pratt |
| Criminal Convictions | Importing Cocaine; Possession of Cocaine for the Purpose of Trafficking |
| Interception Location | Blue Water Bridge Port of Entry (Point Edward / Sarnia) |
| Seized Contraband | 40 Kilograms of Cocaine (Valued between $3.6M and $4.8M) |
Singh previously secured bail of $200,000 in May 2024, weeks after his border arrest. Justice Pratt permitted the convict to remain out of custody under those existing bond terms until his formal sentencing hearing in February.
| Current Bail Terms | Released on $200,000 bond; sentencing scheduled for February |