Border services makes mail and courier drug busts
Posted Nov 21, 2011 3:29 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Canada Border Service officers have intercepted nearly three kilos of cocaine and eight kilograms of a banned substance known as kaht, all destined for Alberta.
The khat was shipped via courier as green tea. Culturally linked to East African countries, it is an illegal drug that produces similiar, but milder results, than cocaine. Seized at a courier plant, it was destined for Brooks and the investigation into the shipment continues.
Nearly a kilo of cocaine was hidden inside packages of coffee, intercepted at a Montreal postal outlet. Three Calgary men, presumed to be the intended recipients of the package, are facing charges in relation to that shipment.
Then on the November 9th, two more kilos of cocaine was found concealed within the lining of books, picture frames and other souvenirs headed for Edmonton.
The CBSA’s Candace Lyle says officers sensed something fishy about an agenda that was sent with the package, peeled open the cover and found cocaine inside.
“Picture frames, two books with hard covers, two sets of trays, two napkin holders and all of the items — when we took them apart — contained powdery substances and they later tested positive for cocaine,” says Lyle at the Border Services Calgary office where the banned substances were on display.
Lyle says she’s never surprised at the length smugglers will go to move their products.
“The better our officers get at detecting this stuff and finding this stuff, the more sophisticated the smugglers get at hiding this stuff,” adds Lyle.
And with the holidays looming, she says they will have to be extra vigilant.
“I think we’re more alert because we are dealing with higher volumes,” adds Lyle. “So we have to be a little bit more aware that they may try to take advantage of those high volumes to sneak stuff past us.”
Joint investigations with the RCMP continue into the courier shipments of khat and cocaine.
