Canadian border officials have seized a total of more than 160 kilograms of cannabis at the Calgary International Airport and Calgary Commercial Operations over the past year, Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) said.
The drugs’ street value was estimated at $1.2 million, CBSA said, adding most of the cannabis seized was heading out of the country.
Minister of Public Safety Gary Anandasangaree said border service officers in Calgary were an example of how CBSA is working to secure the border and prevent “the exporting of contraband.”
“Interrupting these smuggling attempts shows our constant commitment to public safety in Canada and beyond,” he said.
CBSA agents at the airport seized about 109 kilograms in four separate smuggling attempts over the past year. The border officials found the cannabis in vacuum-sealed packages inside of suitcases heading to the United Kingdom.
CBSA officers arrested the travellers involved in those smuggling attempts.
In one of the four attempts, border agents seized 31.6 kilograms of cannabis from a Canadian citizen during a stopover in Vancouver in October 2024, according to CBSA. The traveller had also hidden 1 gram of fentanyl and 29 grams of cocaine in small bags inside suitcases.
Most recently, CBSA agents seized 12.29 kilograms of cannabis hidden inside an “otherwise empty suitcase” of a Canadian citizen on July 12.
Agents at Calgary Commercial Operations seized nine packages that contained smaller amounts of cannabis, one to 10 kilograms each. The drugs were heading to the U.K., Belgium, and the Netherlands. They were in vacuum-sealed bags and were “falsely declared,” CBSA said.
The agency noted that the movement of cannabis was illegal, despite the drug being legal in Canada. A permit is needed to export or import the drug. Smugglers can face up to five years in jail under the Customs Act, and 14 years imprisonment under the Cannabis Act.
CBSA regional director general Janalee Bell-Boychuk advises travellers not to transport cannabis if asked.
“Cannabis import and export laws have severe consequences in Canada and around the world,” Bell-Boychuk said.
CBSA agents recently seized a record amount of cannabis being exported to the U.K. at the Port of Saint John in New Brunswick. The drugs, being shipped to Scotland, weighed more than 6,700 kilograms and were worth nearly $50 million, CBSA said. It was the largest cannabis seizure for the CBSA since 2015.
The amount of the drugs was three times greater than the total amount of cannabis CBSA confiscated across the country in the previous year, it said.
The drugs had been falsely declared on documentation provided to the CBSA.
