Ottawa: An Indian-origin truck driver has been acquitted by a Canadian court in the high-profile 333-kilogram cocaine seizure case after the judge found there was insufficient evidence to prove he knowingly transported the drugs.
Reacting to the verdict, Ravinder Bir Singh expressed relief and became emotional while leaving the courtroom. “I am very happy that the truth has come out,” he said.
Defence lawyer Gurvir Sangha said the legal team had been confident of Singh’s innocence from the beginning. Crown prosecutor Stéphane Marinier said the prosecution would study the judgment before deciding within 30 days whether to file an appeal.
According to the case, Singh arrived in Canada from India on a student visa in 2022 and worked as a truck driver for Divine Freightlines Inc. On March 5, 2025, he picked up a trailer loaded with plastic resin from Redhawk Logistics in Columbus, Ohio. The same night, Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers stopped the truck at the Blue Water Bridge for inspection.
During the search, officials recovered 281 one-kilogram packets of cocaine concealed inside seven bags among 24 pallets. Including the packaging, the total weight was 333 kilograms, with an estimated value ranging from five million to 34 million Canadian dollars. Singh was arrested and released on a C$200,000 bail two weeks later.
The investigation later led to conspiracy charges against two individuals linked to a Brampton-based trucking company.
The prosecution argued that such a large drug shipment would not have been entrusted to an unaware driver and alleged Singh tried to conceal his involvement by adjusting the trailer’s axle configuration and misleading border officials.
The defence countered that the trailer remained in someone else’s custody for nearly seven hours after it was loaded, while Singh was not present. It also argued that he spent only 37 minutes at the pickup location in Columbus, and investigators found neither his fingerprints on the narcotics nor any incriminating messages or evidence on his mobile phone.
Testifying through a Punjabi interpreter, Singh told the court that he had no knowledge of the cocaine hidden inside the truck.
