A Markham transport truck driver faces drug smuggling charges after the RCMP seized 50 kilograms of suspected cocaine at the Blue Water Bridge near Sarnia earlier this month.

The driver was alone in the commercial vehicle crossing from the U.S. into Canada on Nov. 18 when he was directed by a Canada Border Services Agency officer for an inspection, the RCMP said Wednesday.

Border guards use mobile X-ray devices and sniffer dogs to check for any unusual cargo or modifications to trucks.

“During the examination, border services officers discovered an inconsistency in the weight of some of the boxes contained in the shipment,” an RCMP statement said.

“The boxes were examined and found to contain 50 packages of suspected cocaine, weighing approximately 50 kilograms total.”

In an interview, RCMP Sgt. Penny Herman said the suspected cocaine is being forensically tested.

Police had no estimate of the value of the cargo, where it originated or where it was destined.

Guo Bing Zhao, 52, has been charged with importation of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking.

Zhao has a bail hearing in Sarnia on Dec. 12.

Guards on both sides of the border have pulled over several GTA-bound truckers on smuggling charges recently.

In October 2018, U.S. federal agents seized more than 125 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a load of blackberries from Mexico being hauled in a tractor-trailer at the Blue Water Bridge.

The driver, from Guelph, reportedly told investigators he picked up the blueberries in Texas and did not fully witness them being loaded onto his trailer.

U.S. border officers reported they found four boxes holding plastic-wrapped packages of suspected cocaine in his truck.

In February 2019, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported nearly 600 grams of fentanyl was seized from Canadian mail trucks crossing into Michigan over the bridge.

The seizure had an estimated street value of $15,000, the agency said.

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In May, a Mississauga man was charged with drug and currency offences after more than 25 kilograms of methamphetamine and two manila envelopes containing $126,000 in U.S. cash were seized at the same crossing.

In June, a Brantford motorist was charged with multiple drug offences after 48 bricks containing more than 55 kilograms of suspected cocaine was seized from a vehicle at the Blue Water Bridge.

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