Opium seized at Hamilton airport

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There’s been an increase in the number of drugs people are trying to smuggle through John C. Munro Airport, and the latest seizure involves opium.

Every day Brent Carter and other border services officers spend hours scanning suspicious packages that come by courier through the Hamilton Airport. On April 13, a box marked ‘shoes’ drew suspicion. What was in the package was 2 kg of opium. The street value is anywhere from 200 to 400,000 dollars. In 2013 there was no opium seized at the Hamilton Airport, but in 2014, 11 seizures took place.

Opium isn’t the only drug that’s coming into the airport more frequently. Heroin seizures more than doubled over 2013, and the ‘other controlled substances’ category also increased.

While CBSA isn’t sure why there’s been such an increase, they say they have a lot of technology to detect illegal substances, including x-rays, sniffer dogs and good old fashioned intuition. “A lot of it is experience, and using our knowledge of the courier stream, and things we see on a regular basis…to determine what the anomalies are every day” says Hamilton border agent Brent Carter.

One person has been charged in this latest seizure. Border Services says they also rely on the public and encourage anyone who sees suspicious activity at the airport to call them.