CBSA cracks down on guns, drugs at Alberta border
Posted Mar 29, 2016 4:12 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It was a busy February for officers at the Coutts border crossing.
Luke Reimer with Canada Border Services said they were dealing with smuggling handguns and found drugs in some odd places.
“Our detector dog Comet at Coutts just started at the end of last year and has been doing great there,” he explained. “In February, he indicated on the front passenger seat of a vehicle underneath it and there officers found suspected marijuana inside a cracker box, which also led them to find a small quantity [of] shatter suspected on the traveller.
“Shatter is a concentrated form of THC. For example, marijuana contains approximately 12 to 15 percent THC, while shatter contains 80 to 90 per cent. It is gold coloured and looks similar to toffee; while it’s a small amount in this case, it’s very potent and something they want to keep off the street.”
Reimer said three guns were found, as people tried to cross the border at Coutts.
“Some of them were in interesting locations,” Reimer told 660 NEWS. “In one incident, officers arrested a man after they found a handgun, a .357 handgun, in a camera bag in the backseat of his vehicle. In another case, they also seized a pair of undeclared handguns in totes in a trailer.”
CBSA officers process an average of 95,421 travellers in 38,679 cars and 10,755 commercial trucks every month.
