From January 1 to October 31 of this year, CBSA Southern Ontario Region detained a combined 674.29 kilograms of narcotics at crossings such as the Ambassador Bridge, the Peace Bridge and the Blue Water Bridge.
Article content
674.29 kilograms. Or 1,486,555 pounds, if you prefer.
Commercial
This ad has not been uploaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
That’s the total weight of narcotics that the Canada Border Services Agency seized at its Southern Ontario Region crossings over the course of 10 months this year.
The sizable figure appears in the CBSA’s annual review of significant enforcement actions from January 1 to October 31, publicly disclosed Monday.
The review includes the findings of June 15, a particularly busy day when CBSA officers in the Windsor-Detroit tunnel detained a US citizen who attempted to bring 488 pills of the drug MDMA (ecstasy) into Canada.
The suspect was fined $ 10,000 and turned over to US authorities.
That same date, at the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie, CBSA detained a Quebec resident who was found transporting 112.5 kilograms of suspected cocaine, packaged inside five canvas bags.
Commercial
This ad has not been uploaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Law enforcement officers estimated the total street value of that cocaine seizure at $ 14 million. The driver was arrested and transferred to RCMP custody.
-
Cocaine with an estimated street value of $ 12 million seized at Ambassador Bridge
-
RCMP indicts American traveler after seizure of 18 kilos of cocaine on Ambassador Bridge
-
Large number of guns seized at Blue Water Bridge near Sarnia
Other large local seizures were included in the CBSA’s 674.29 kilogram count.
On August 29, a US citizen originally from Kansas City, Missouri, attempted to enter Canada over the Ambassador Bridge in a passenger vehicle that was found to be carrying 18 bricks of suspected cocaine.
Each of the individually packed bricks weighed approximately one kilogram. Again, the driver was arrested and transferred to RCMP custody.
Commercial
This ad has not been uploaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Meanwhile, during the same time of year, CBSA officers found more significant drug shipments aboard commercial vehicles at the Blue Water Bridge near Sarnia.
On two different dates, Aug. 9 and Aug. 31, trucking trucks driven by Ontario residents attempted to enter Canada over the Blue Water Bridge with large amounts of suspected cocaine. Combined, the two incidents produced 145 kilograms of seized drugs.
However, the total annual figure released by the CBSA on Monday does not include the recent seizure of 112 kilograms of alleged cocaine on the Ambassador Bridge, which occurred during the early hours of the morning of December 4.
In that incident, CBSA officers were acting on the basis of information provided by the Brantford police. The seized drugs had an estimated street value of $ 12 million. Two Brampton residents were arrested and charged as a result.
Commercial
This ad has not been uploaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Drugs weren’t the only contraband stopped at CBSA-controlled land crossings in southern Ontario. Monday’s review said a total of 166 firearms were seized during the period from January 1 to October 31.
That figure does not include a Nov. 1 incident at the Blue Water Bridge in which a vehicle examination revealed 56 undeclared and prohibited pistols, as well as 13 ammunition magazines that exceeded Canadian capacity limits.
In other stats: The Ambassador Bridge remains the busiest land crossing in North America, with a total of 1,161,645 commercial vehicles processed from January 1 to October 31.
According to the CBSA, the Ambassador Bridge alone accounted for 26 percent of Canada’s total commercial transportation volume over land border crossings during that period.
Reference-windsorstar.com