The Canada Border Services Agency says nearly five kilograms of suspected heroin has been seized at Halifax Stanfield International Airport.
The agency says CBSA officers discovered inconsistencies in a traveller’s suitcase during a routine secondary examination on Sunday.
The officers dismantled the suitcase and found a large package hidden in the suitcase liner.
“Though it’s not completely unusual in Canada to find that, this is one of the few times that we’ve discovered a large quantity of heroin like this in the Atlantic region,” said Colin Murchison, chief of operations with CBSA.
“This is only the second seizure of this scale, this one being 4.8 kilograms. The one previous to that in the last five years was at our container exam facility in Halifax, and that was about five kilograms.”
Variety of inconsistencies
Murchison said CBSA officials are trained to find “a variety of inconsistencies” whether it’s with to luggage, declarations or someone’s intentions for visiting Canada.
This package was found during a routine secondary exam of a Canadian citizen at the airport. Officers used detection technology similar to an X-ray and an ion scan which detected particles of drugs, then a narcotics identification kit to determine what the substance was.
“Upon dismantling the luggage they discovered a package concealed within the lining of the suitcase that contained approximately 4.8 kilograms of heroin. That amounts to about 48,000 doses of a very dangerous drug off of our streets,” Murchison said.
The man was arrested and charged under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and the drugs were handed over to the RCMP.
With files from Global News.