It was 3:26 in the morning when a long-haul tractor trailer loaded with steel bars pulled up on the U.S. side of the Blue Water Bridge at the southern end of Lake Huron, connecting Ontario and Michigan.

The driver, Iqbal Singh Virk, an owner-operator of the truck based in Brampton, Ont., lowered his window to speak with U.S. Customs officers monitoring overnight traffic on Aug. 28, 2024. In the passenger seat was Ranjit Singh Rowal, who shared the driving.

Virk answered their questions: No, they didn’t they have guns, drugs, or cash over $5,000 with them; no one had given them anything to bring across; they were both Indian citizens with permanent resident status in Canada.

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Experienced drivers, it must have seemed routine until

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