Two men are facing drug charges after border services officers seized 273 kilograms of suspected cocaine from a boat in Nova Scotia’s Lunenburg County.
Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) says their officers boarded a small vessel in Hubbards, N.S. that had arrived from the Caribbean island of Saint Martin on Sept. 3.
Officers discovered several bricks of what they believed was cocaine in a sleeping quarters, hidden inside a sealed bed frame.
“Our officers are trained to look in those areas,” said Dominic Mallette, the agency’s acting director for Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador.
“If the vessel is 20 years old, and the screws are brand new, that means somebody’s been there recently.”
CBSA then contacted the Nova Scotia RCMP to continue the investigation.
“By sharing intelligence and co-ordinating enforcement activities, (the RCMP and CBSA) are targeting criminal groups and networks that are using increasingly sophisticated methods to attempt to smuggle drugs into our country,” RCMP Supt. Alfredo Bangloy said in a statement.
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Mallette would not reveal whether the border agency had received a tip about the accused smugglers.
“I can tell you that we had an awareness and we were ready,” he said. “Anything beyond that would jeopardize our internal work.”
Jacques John Grenier, 68 from Hubbards, N.S., was arrested at the scene and charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking, importation of a controlled substance and conspiracy to import a controlled substance.
Luc Chevrefils, 59, from Montreal was arrested a few hours later at a hotel in Dartmouth. Chevrefils faces charges of possession for the purpose of trafficking and conspiracy to import a controlled substance.
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Both men were scheduled to appear in Halifax Provincial Court on Friday morning.
According to CBSA, this incident represents the second significant seizure in Nova Scotia during 2017.
In May, approximately 200 kilograms of hashish was found hidden in a chocolate bar shipment at the Port of Halifax.
With files from The Canadian Press