Earlier this week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) arrested a Canadian truck driver for allegedly attempting to cross the northern border with more than 280 pounds of cocaine. Despite all the news of drug smuggling at our southern border, it happens up north as well.
Dario Grujic said he had picked up a shipment of Mexican blackberries in Texas. As he was traveling back to Canada, he was arrested on the Blue Water Bridge, which connects Michigan to Ontario. A CBP team stopped him while performing routine inspections. They discovered four packages wrapped in plastic that tested positive for cocaine. He had used the same truck to pass through the United States 25 times in the last six months.
While Grujic was bringing drugs back into Canada, there have also been many cases of Canadian nationals using Blue Water Bridge in attempts to smuggle drugs into the U.S. In the five weeks leading up to October, CBP seized more than 1,650 pounds of marijuana, which was before Canada legalized it. One of these cases in August involved a tractor-trailer attempting to carry 300 pounds of marijuana across the border. Another 1,300 pounds in 63 separate packages would be caught within the next ten days. Now that marijuana is largely legal in Canada, it’s possible that this problem will worsen.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), drugs remain the “most common threat to U.S. public safety along the northern border.” Cocaine and marijuana are just two of the common drugs coming through, as the DHS also encounters methamphetamine, fentanyl, and ecstasy. Only about 3,000 people were apprehended trying to illegally enter the United States through the northern border in Fiscal Year 2017. However, most of those who are apprehended are attempting to smuggle drugs into the United States.
President Trump and American citizens keep their eyes on the southern border, but maybe it’s time to also start looking the other way. Illegal aliens may not be barging through the northern border at the same rate, but far too many drugs still pour in. Overdose deaths are on the rise in the United States, and this flow of drugs is contributing to it.
4 Comments
The drug routes from Mexico extend all across America and into Canada, The routes also extend from American ports to Europe. Planes with drugs, drug smugglers, and illegal migrants land in America. How can we catch terrorists if we can’t even catch this trash?? I believe our federal agencies aren’t trying hard enough, perhaps deliberately complicit in these whole operations…
How much drugs from Canada vs from Mexico?? Less,more, =??
Bet Mexico is Way more.
Canada is a Great Ally
But corruption and crime lurk everywhere.
The nation of Canada exists at HIGH latitudes! But seriously, Canadians always had a reputation as tough, resourceful, hard-working people. They had to be to wrest a living out of inhospitable territory. Heavy drug use will inevitably destroy the work ethic. How sad.