2 Men Charged in International Drug Smuggling Scheme That Recruited Women via Online Ads

A patch is seen on the shoulder of a Canada Border Services Agency officer's uniform in Tsawwassen, B.C., on Dec. 16, 2022. The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck

The RCMP has charged two men in connection with an international criminal scheme that recruited women through online classified advertisements to smuggle drugs out of Canada via Toronto Pearson International Airport.

Following a nine-month investigation, the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) have charged 48-year-old Charles Adewoye of Toronto and 25-year-old Shamaarke Jafar Ismail of the United Kingdom in connection with a drug smuggling operation that officials intercepted and stopped before an additional 29 kilograms of cannabis could be shipped out of Canada, the CBSA said in a Dec. 22 press release.