Canadian man stopped in truck carrying 266 lbs. of cocaine at at Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron, arrested: sheriff

PORT HURON (WWJ) -- A Canadian man is jailed in Michigan on a $3 million bond, after authorities say he was caught at a border crossing with a large shipment of illegal drugs.

According to the St. Clair County Sheriff's Office, around 266 lbs. of cocaine was discovered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents in a truck inspected at the Blue Water Bridge, at around 4:30 p.m. last Thursday.

The semi-tractor and trailer and evidence was turned over to the St. Clair County Drug Task Force, and the suspect — 42-year-old Juli Sabosan Sathiaseelan of Canada — was arrested, according to the St. Clair County Sheriff's Office.

The St. Clair County Drug Task Force is partnered with HSI and a drug task force officer is assigned to the Port Huron branch of HSI, the sheriff's office said.

Speaking to WWJ Newsradio 950's Jeremy Jenkins, Sheriff Mat King explained how the suspect was caught.

"This particular vehicle was found to have an anomaly in the storage area of the tractor trailer," King said. "And at that point they began manually searching the tractor and found this large amount of cocaine. And at that point we were contacted to do further investigation to find out where these drugs were going, and where they were coming from."

King said the drugs n this case were headed from the U.S. into Canada, and adds that this is one of the larger drug busts at the border over the last three years.

Sathiaseelan was arraigned by the 72nd District Court and was being held on a $3 million bond in the St. Clair County Detention and Intervention Center, according to a news release Monday.

The sheriff's office said there could be additional charges filed in this case, as the investigation by the St. Clair County Drug Task Force and its partners continues.

King stressed that partnerships with other law enforcement agencies from local to federal are "absolutely essential" in keeping drugs out of our local communities