DETROIT – A semi truck driver was caught trying to transport six duffel bags of cocaine over the Ambassador Bridge from Detroit to Canada, officials said.
The stop was made around 6:10 p.m. Thursday (Feb. 24) on the Detroit side of the Ambassador Bridge, according to the Detroit Contraband Enforcement Team.
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials spoke to Jagrant Singh Gill, the driver of a commercial tractor and soft side covered flatbed trailer, about where he was coming from and what he was hauling, court records show.
“Steel reels from Marion, Indiana,” Gill said, according to authorities.
Gill told officials that he didn’t have any guns, ammunition, military equipment or currency over $10,000, they said.
An officer asked Gill to park the truck and step out during an inspection of the side storage compartment under the flatbed, the criminal complaint says.
The officer immediately noticed several duffel bags, authorities said.
Inside the duffel bags, the officer found plastic-wrapped bundles with various logos and numbers on them, he said.
Gill was placed in handcuffs, according to court records.
Six duffel bags were removed from the compartment, officials said. All of the individually wrapped bundles were weighed, and the total weight came out to 140.75 kilograms, authorities said.
Testing showed the substance inside the bundles was cocaine, according to officials.
Gill was interviewed around 9 p.m. and waived his Miranda rights, authorities said. He told them he had entered the U.S. around 9 p.m. Feb. 23 and driven to Albion, Indiana, to drop off steel pipes, the criminal complaint says.
Gill said he then drove to another city in Indiana to pick up large steel reels used for wire, and he was instructed to take them back to Canada, according to authorities.
He stopped at a truck stop on exit 151 off of I-94 in Michigan, went to the bathroom and stayed there for about a half hour, officials said.
Gill claims he doesn’t know how the cocaine got into the storage compartment of his trailer.
The criminal complaint concludes that there’s probable cause that Gill possessed cocaine with the intent to distribute.