MONTREAL – Border security officers seized 3.1 kilograms of heroin at the Trudeau Airport this week.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) announced Wednesday that its officers discovered the heroin in the suitcase of a traveller arriving from Qatar on Jan. 23.
The officers took X-rays of the suitcase, which revealed it had a false bottom.
After drilling a hole into the suitcase, officers noticed traces of white powder and further tests confirmed the powder was heroin.
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“At the Montreal Trudeau airport in 2012, our officers conducted 205 drug seizures on travellers,” Jacqueline Roby, spokesperson for the CBSA, told Global News.
“Our officers are always the first line of defence against drug smuggling. The drugs we stop at the border won’t end up in our streets and communities.”
This drug bust follows a seizure on Jan. 3, when two kilograms of heroin (worth an estimated $800,000) was found hidden in a package at the Léo Blanchette Mail Processing Centre in Montreal.
The discovery was made as border services officers examined a parcel that contained several rugs declared as gifts.
When the package was opened, the four rugs gave off a “fragrant odour.” After unravelling the rug fibres, a brown powder was discovered hidden in the wool.
When a detector dog was brought in, it reacted to the scent and further tests confirmed the substance was heroin.
In 2012, border services officers in Quebec made 1,653 drug seizures, estimated to be worth more than $77 million.
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