US Customs and Border Protection Officers at the Blue Water Bridge connecting Ontario and Michigan say they seized more than 1,000 pounds of cannabis concealed in a commercial garbage truck.

Late Monday night, US officials encountered a trash hauler who told them he was transporting municipal trash to a landfill in New Boston, Michigan, more than 90 minutes from the border crossing. The Blue Water Bridge crosses on the Canadian side in Sarnia, Ontario, and Port Huron on the Michigan side, at the southern tip of Lake Huron.

The official report on the seizure does not explicitly state the garbgae truck was coming in from Canada, but a comment from the US’s Acting Port Director April Donaghy, who oversees operations at the Port Huron Area Port of Entry, refers to traffickers attempting to cross the US border.

“Traffickers will use any means to attempt to transport illegal narcotics across our borders,” said Donaghy. “Our officers are highly trained to spot inconsistencies, and I’m proud of their actions leading to such a significant seizure.”

This is only the most recent in a string of larger cannabis seizures at the US/Canada border following it’s closure due to COVID-19 in March 2020. Both US and Canadian authorities have intercepted numerous large cannabis shipments at or destined for the US border since the two countries closed their border to all non essential traffic in March due to the global pandemic. The bulk of seized shipments has been since the border closure in March.

Just last week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the Port of Buffalo seized more than a tonne of cannabis in a commercial shipment coming in from Canada.