640 Pounds of Cocaine Nearly Made it Into Michigan
A semi-trailer filled with cocaine came close to making it into Michigan this week but a flaw in the paperwork led to customs searching the trailer.
Canadian-Michigan Border
Pre-911, when I was much younger, I used to cross the Ambassador Bridge from Detroit to Canada and back all the time. Back then you didn't need a passport just a driver's license and I never had any trouble on either side of the bridge.
The only time had any trouble with customs was when I was in a band and we were traveling from Detroit to New York and thought we would take a shortcut through Canada. We got the van and the equipment truck across the Ambassador Bridge with no problem since we called ahead and had all the proper paperwork. We didn't realize we needed to call ahead to cross the bridge we were going to cross into New York from the Niagara Falls area. Needless to say, they searched the entire equipment truck, opened every road case then after inspecting and finding nothing, they left it all in a pile for us to put back together and reload the truck. It wasn't fun but we didn't get into any trouble out of side of the States and never took that short-cut again.
Post 9/11, it is much tougher to cross the Ambassador Bridge going to and from Canada. You need a passport now, a reason to be there, and depending on where you are going, you may need additional paperwork and coordinates in case they have to come to look for you. I will say, it is much more difficult to come back from Canada than it is to get in but thank goodness we do have customs agents on both sides of the border.
640 Pounds of Cocaine Nearly Made it Into Michigan
Late Monday night just before midnight, Customs and Border Protection officers attempted to stop a semi for a secondary inspection but the driver kept going, but officers were able to get the driver to stop. This was at the Ambassador Bridge entering Detroit from Canada.
According to WXYZ, border agents doing the inspection said the seal of the trailer did not match the seal on the paperwork. Inside the trailer, border agents found nearly $9 million worth of cocaine stuffed in Home Depot cardboard boxes. The driver was a Canadian resident who was originally from India.
