Customs and Border Protection officers at the Peace Bridge cargo facility in Buffalo, New York, found about 9,472 pounds (about 4.3 tonnes) of marijuana hidden in a commercial truck that tried to enter the United States just before midnight on 25 June 2020.[1] The trailer carried Ontario licence plates with a manifest listing 55 storage containers, and a secondary scan found anomalies that led officers to unpack 8,320 vacuum-sealed packages valued at about $20 million.[1]

Officials called it the largest marijuana seizure ever in the Justice Department’s Western District of New York, during a month in which truck seizures at the crossing surged after the border closed to nonessential travel in the pandemic.[1][2] The 26-year-old Indian driver, a Canadian permanent resident, was arrested on 26 June and charged with possessing 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana and importing it with intent to distribute, charges carrying from ten years to life in prison.[1][3]

The driver told investigators he had picked up the sealed trailer at a repair shop near Toronto and knew nothing of its contents.[2] On 9 July, magistrate Jeremiah McCarthy dismissed the case in Buffalo at the prosecutor’s request, and the driver was driven back to the Peace Bridge to return to Canada.[3] Prosecutors said they needed more time for forensic examination of electronic evidence and further steps in an ongoing transnational investigation, and the dismissal was without prejudice.[2]