Timothy Hache testified Friday about a search he conducted of a vehicle that was detained on April 15, 2017, in connection with charges against a Toronto-area man.
Tamba Gbamanja, 31, has pleaded not guilty to two offences under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, involving three Nigerian nationals.
The seized items, which included receipts, boarding passes and two Bibles with names in them, were located in a purse and suitcases, Ontario Court Justice John Condon heard.
Two of the suitcases contained women's clothing and the third had men's apparel.
Hache, a 10-year CBSA officer, testified that he spoke with three people, who had arrived with Canadian passports, and were passengers in a vehicle driven by Gbamanja.
"I had reason to believe these persons were not of Canadian origin," he told federal prosecutor Narissa Somji.
The first bundle of items, from a woman's purse, included an April 6 purchase in Houston, Texas, and March receipts from businesses in a city west of Houston.
A luggage receipt, a MasterCard in a woman's name, and a business card from a parish priest in Lagos, Nigeria, also were part of that evidence provided to the court.
An April 13 United Airlines receipt in one of the women's names, a boarding pass from Houston to Chicago on the same date, and a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines luggage tag from March 22, also in the same name, were entered as evidence.
This bundle also included a torn piece of paper, with Lagos to Amsterdam marked on it, with the same woman's name on it
Other receipts showed purchases from IHOP, Wal-Mart, a yogurt shop, and other businesses in the Houston area in March and April.
A third collection of items included more receipts from locations in Texas, as well as several photographs of a woman, and a couple of ultrasound pictures, connected to one of the women officers had learned was pregnant.
The photos appeared to be of one of the women involved, the witness said. Her photo also was on a cell phone, and the screen indicated the device belonged to her.
"I was looking for information of where they were coming from and if they were Canadian," Hache said.
None of the documents appeared to be Canadian, he told Somji.
Hache testified that he never saw the Canadian passports presented by the three passengers when they entered the country nor the Nigerian passports concealed in the vehicle.
During cross-examination by defence lawyer Katie Scott, he agreed he hadn't interviewed anyone involved and didn't know where anyone was sitting in the vehicle or what belonged to whom.
Scott suggested he didn't confirm the identity of the people and doesn't even know if they existed.
Correct, Hache replied.
On Friday, the court also heard from Travis Winch, superintendent of traffic operations at the port of Sault Ste. Marie, a position he has held for three and a half years.
He testifed that he had seized an envelope, containing $2,158 in US currency, that had been discovered by another officer during a personal search of Gbamanja.
Winch told Scott he doesn't recall who initially counted the money and wrote the amount on the evidence bag.
The Crown closed its case Friday.
Scott will decide Monday whether she will call a defence.
EDITOR'S NOTE: SooToday does not permit comments on court stories
More local news
Browse local flyers
Weather forecast
Find local deals
View local webcams
Verified Commenter, please