After Indo-Canadian trucker Ajitpal Sanghera was caught smuggling $3 million in drugs by US authorities at the Blaine border in Washington state on March 9, there was false news spread by some wanna-be Punjabi news guys on social media that all charges against Sanghera were dismissed. But that was not the case at all.
BELLINGHAM – After Indo-Canadian trucker Ajitpal Sanghera was caught smuggling $3 million in drugs by US authorities at the Blaine border in Washington state on March 9, there was false news spread by some wanna-be Punjabi news guys on social media that all charges against Sanghera were dismissed. But that was not the case at all.
The fake news was based on a false technicality as charges were simply transferred from state to federal prosecutors, who are now looking after the prosecution of the Surrey trucker.
Sanghera was booked into Whatcom County Jail on May 10, on suspicion of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, and jail records showed at the time that he is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail.
US authorities found an estimated $3 million in cocaine on May 9 when the commercial truck Sanghera was driving was pulled over.
The authorities believe that Sanghera is connected to a large international drug trafficking organization.
Officers found that Sanghera had crossed into the United States more than 40 times so far this year. That, coupled with the amount of cocaine that was found Saturday, led officers to conclude he was part of an international drug trafficking organization
According to Whatcom County prosecutor Donna Bracke, Sanghera’s case was transferred the federal government due to the jurisdictional nature of the serious charges against the trucker.
US authorities were tipped off to Sanghera’s load by an anonymous tip, which led U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers to stop Sanghera before he crossed the border into Canada at the Pacific Highway Truck Crossing in Blaine.
Law enforcement received an anonymous tip on Thursday, May 7, with specific information about a commercial vehicle that would be crossing into Canada from the United States carrying narcotics, according to Whatcom County Superior Court Records filed Monday, May 11, reported Bellingham Herald newspaper.
Customs and Border Protection officers working on the outbound inspection at the Truck Crossing in Blaine Saturday, May 9, spotted the truck and another from the same company in line at the point of entry, documents state, and both vehicles were sent for secondary inspection shortly before 9 p.m.
Sanghera was driving the second truck — a blue 2000 Freightliner with British Columbia plates and towing a trailer with Oklahoma plates — court documents state.
During the trailer check, a Customs officer found five handbags in the rear of the trailer containing more than 60 kilograms of cocaine, according to documents.
Sanghera waved his Miranda rights, documents state, and told officers during questioning that he was the owner of the truck and had picked up the trailer in Seattle earlier that day. He also reportedly admitted that the seal placed on the rear of the trailer for security and safety purposes of the load did not match the seal number on the manifest.
Sanghera also could not explain discrepancies in the route he used after he entered the United States, documents state, but said he had been in contact with the driver of the other truck from the same company more than 10 times that day. He also reportedly admitted to cutting the security seal off the trailer, reported Bellingham Herald.
