The opium was found to be smuggled in a package containing a subwoofer speaker.
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A Coquitlam man has been sentenced to three years in prison in relation to an opium-smuggling operation originating from Germany.
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In April, Hamid Modrek Najafabadi was handed a three-year prison sentence along with a 10-year weapons prohibition and forfeiture order after investigators intercepted a package bound for his home five years ago.
BC RCMP’s federal serious and organized crime division launched the investigation in Feb. 2017 after German authorities found shipment details for a package suspected to contain opium headed for Canada.
Police and border officials intercepted the package at Toronto Pearson airport. The package contained a subwoofer speaker that was used to stash two kilograms of opium.
Police executed a search warrant at Modrek Najafabadi’s home on Feb. 14, 2017 and seized two kilograms of opium and $3,250 in cash. They also found four hollowed-up pumps consistent with previous opium shipments linked to earlier investigations by German police, said RCMP.
Modrek Najafabadi was charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking and importing a controlled substance.
His counterpart in Germany, Hamid Nemati Shirazi, was sentenced by a German court to more than five years of imprisonment.
The United Nations Office on Drug and Crime said global opium producers such as Afghanistan and Myanmar have been ramping up production of opium, which would translate to increased heroin on the streets, exacerbating the opioid crisis in North America.