Feds drop charges against Canadian trucker with 2,200 pounds of pot in coil springs

Federal prosecutors have dismissed charges against a trucker working in Canada who was stopped with more than 2,200 pounds of marijuana while trying to cross the border into the U.S. last month.

The driver, Tasbir Singh, an immigrant from India who lives in Windsor, Ontario, was arrested on July 7 and spent 16 days in jail before being released. In an interview with the Detroit Free-Press, Singh stated that he was innocent of any criminal wrongdoing and thought he was hauling coil springs, not pot. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, he said he stayed in his truck while the trailer was loaded and sealed.

According to court documents, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan has dismissed the charges, but an investigation remains ongoing. More charges could still be filed.

Federal prosecutors gave three reasons for seeking to dismiss the charges without prejudice, including:

• To develop and obtain evidence sufficient to establish the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
• To investigate the full extent of the offense(s) in question and identify all other individuals who should be held criminally responsible for the offense(s).
• To decide whether criminal prosecution of the defendant for the offense(s) in question is in the public interest.

Court records show that Singh was arrested when he approached the Fort Street Cargo Facility in Detroit with a load going from Windsor to Wooster, Ohio.

Customs and Border Protection officers pulled the truck over for a secondary inspection and discovered seven pallets of marijuana valued at $3.6 million dollars.

Hacking allegation

Singh’s attorney, Ellen Michaels, told the Free Press that she believes the computers at the trucking company he worked for were hacked and a fake order for coil springs – what Singh says he thought he was hauling – was created. Then the truck was filled with marijuana instead. LL

News Anchor Terry Scruton contributed to this report.