200 kg of hash discovered hidden in chocolate bars at Port of Halifax
Ontario man arrested and charged with importation of controlled substance
Smugglers might have thought they'd found a sweet way to get drugs into the country, but earlier this year border agents uncovered the ploy during an inspection at the Port of Halifax: more than 200 kilograms of hashish tucked away inside chocolate bars.
The Canada Border Services Agency and the RCMP announced the seizure on Wednesday.
The hashish-infused bars originated in the Netherlands and were destined for Ontario.
CBSA officers, tipped off by the National Targeting Centre, saw anomalies in X-ray images inside a marine container on May 25.
Unusually large seizure
Calvin Christiansen, regional director of the CBSA's Atlantic region, said they broke the chocolate with a rubber hammer and found hash in a cellophane package inside.
Christiansen said the strange hiding place was par for the course.
"We find all kinds of things hidden in all kinds of things," he said.
What was unusual for this part of the country was the size of the bust.
"We typically in the Atlantic region seize in the grams of hashish every year," Christiansen said. "Last year, our seizure quantity of hash was just under five grams. So this year we've got a seizure that's got 210-plus kilograms."
4 charges
The evidence was turned over to RCMP, who did a follow-up investigation and made an arrest in Ontario. A 51-year-old man from Mississauga was charged on June 23 for:
- Importation of a controlled substance.
- Possession for the purpose of trafficking.
- Conspiring to commit an indictable offence (two charges).
Christiansen said the seizure was a good example of the strong relationship between CBSA and RCMP.
"Sometimes it's very hard to attach a container that's here in Halifax to an individual that's in another city somewhere in Canada, and that's what we leave up to them to do."