TORONTO — A married truck-driving couple from a Vaughan suburb faces serious drug charges after Canada Border Services Agency officers stopped them on the Canadian side of the Blue Water Bridge on Oct. 11.Mohammad Arain, 58, and Aliya Arain, 47, were charged with importing cocaine and possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, according to court records reported by The Sarnia Observer. A source told the newspaper that officers seized 375 kilograms of cocaine with an estimated street value of about $37.5 million if sold by the gram. CBSA has declined to confirm seizure details, citing an ongoing investigation.The couple appeared several times in Sarnia court, including by video from the Sarnia Jail, before both were released on bail on Oct. 20. Mohammad Arain was released on $15,000 with two sureties; Aliya Arain on $10,000 with one surety. Release conditions require them to live at their Vaughan home, observe daily curfews from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. with limited exceptions, remain in Ontario, and not reapply for passports or travel documents. They are due back in court on Nov. 25. What was said at their bail hearings remains under a publication ban until trial..The case is the latest in a string of large alleged commercial-truck drug seizures at the twin-span Blue Water Bridge linking Point Edward, Ont., with Port Huron, Mich. The Observer reported it is at least the seventh significant tractor-trailer drug bust on the Canadian side of the crossing so far this year.Earlier this month, a Toronto-area trucker was sentenced in Sarnia to 15 years in prison for smuggling 50 kg of opium and 40 kg of cocaine over the same bridge in 2023; he is out on bail pending appeal. Other recent cases have involved Ontario drivers and multi-hundred-kilogram cocaine loads at the Blue Water Bridge and the Ambassador Bridge. CBSA has previously reported substantial cocaine seizures in its Southern Ontario Region this year.The Arains remain free under the conditions of their release orders while the case proceeds.
