An Indiana truck driver is facing felony drug charges after a commercial vehicle inspection in Putnam County led police to approximately 277 pounds of cocaine concealed inside the sleeper compartment of his tractor.
The Indiana State Police Criminal Interdiction Unit estimated the cocaine had a street value of about $3.8 million. The drugs were not found in the trailer. Instead, investigators discovered 126 kilograms of cocaine inside the sleeper area of the tractor.
The investigation began when Trooper Yan J. Dravigne stopped a blue Freightliner traveling eastbound on Interstate 70 in Putnam County. Dravigne noticed that the truck was displaying expired International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA) decals and initiated a motor carrier compliance inspection near mile marker 31 at approximately 5:07 p.m.
Police identified the driver as Harpreet Singh, of Greenwood, Indiana.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Singh told Dravigne that he had been traveling from Indianapolis in a different tractor-trailer before making his way to Memphis, Tennessee. He said company management had instructed him to pick up equipment at a gas station, although he did not know the location of the station.
Singh said management subsequently directed him to drive the tractor-trailer back to Indianapolis.
Company disputes account of Memphis pickup
Singh identified his employer to police as “VEIN STUDIO LLC” and provided USDOT number 4242807. According to the affidavit, federal motor carrier records associate that number with IN VEIN STUDIOS LLC, based in Decatur, Alabama.
But the company provided FreightWaves with a substantially different account of the tractor’s movements and denied any involvement in transporting drugs.
Anuj Kumar, an officer of the company, said the tractor had broken down in Oklahoma City on Aug. 23. IN VEIN, according to Kumar, left the tractor and a loaded refrigerated trailer at a repair facility.
The following day, another company driver retrieved the loaded reefer trailer, Kumar said. Singh then traveled to Oklahoma City to collect the tractor once repairs had been completed.
IN VEIN subsequently arranged a power-only load heading toward Indiana, according to Kumar. Management later instructed Singh to return bobtail, meaning without a trailer.
“We did not provide him with that trailer,” Kumar wrote to FreightWaves.
The company said it does not know where Singh obtained the trailer that police encountered during the inspection.
The disagreement over the trailer, however, does not resolve the central question surrounding the cocaine. The affidavit states that investigators found the suspected narcotics inside the tractor’s sleeper compartment rather than in the attached trailer.
Kumar confirmed that IN VEIN owns the tractor and said Singh had been sent to retrieve it after the repairs. Court records currently available do not establish when or how the cocaine was placed inside the vehicle.
Singh also told police that the tractor had spent roughly two weeks at a repair shop. According to the affidavit, he said the mechanical problem had been caused by a rock entering the engine.
That timeframe generally corresponds with Kumar’s description of the tractor’s stay at a repair facility. The available court documents, however, do not identify the repair shop.
The inspection uncovered other compliance issues as well. After noticing the outdated IFTA decals, Dravigne found that the truck’s IFTA cab card had also expired. Singh told the trooper that he was unaware the license had expired.
He also told police that he had been unable to use an electronic logging device to record his hours of service for several hours.
Because of the IFTA violation, Dravigne contacted a towing company to have the vehicle impounded. The trooper then conducted an inventory search of the tractor’s cab.
That search led investigators to a blue duffel bag sitting on the sleeper berth mattress. Inside the bag were kilogram-sized packages wrapped in black duct tape.
Cocaine discovered inside sleeper compartment
Dravigne’s experience with previous drug investigations led him to suspect that the packages contained illegal narcotics.
Police subsequently carried out a probable cause search of the tractor cab. Investigators found more packages concealed in storage areas surrounding the sleeper berth.
The white powder contained in the packages presumptively tested positive for cocaine.
Officers arrested Singh and transported him to the Putnam County Jail.
Prosecutors file two felony charges
Putnam County prosecutors formally charged Singh on Sept. 8.
He faces a Level 2 felony charge for dealing in cocaine, along with a Level 3 felony charge for possession of cocaine. The charging documents cite approximately 277 pounds of cocaine in connection with both counts.
Singh remains presumed innocent unless and until he is proven guilty in court.
Why It Matters
The case illustrates how the chain of custody surrounding commercial equipment can become a critical issue during a transportation-related criminal investigation.
When a tractor changes hands, particularly after a mechanical breakdown or repair, documented records of who controlled the equipment and when can become important in determining how contraband ended up inside a vehicle.
In this case, Singh’s description of a Memphis pickup differs from the account provided by his employer, while court records do not currently establish when or how the cocaine entered the tractor’s sleeper compartment.
