Police, Canada Post seize $800,000 worth of north-bound contraband

Here’s an example of the type of “mail” that somebody in southern Canada tried to send to a northern location using Canada Post. It’s one of 55 such packages that police and Canada Post intercepted over a four-day period last month. (RCMP HANDOUT)

RCMP spokesman Sgt. Jimmy Akavak, right, and Superintendent Howard Eaton of criminal operations discuss the seizure of $800,000 worth of drugs and illegal booze intercepted at the Canada Post sorting station in Montreal. Fifty-five packages of drugs and alcohol were on their way to 14 communities in Nunavut and northern Quebec. (PHOTO BY GABRIEL ZÁRATE)

In one of the biggest busts in years, a joint police and Canada Post operation last month intercepted roughly $800,000 worth of drugs and illegal alcohol destined for Nunavut and northern Quebec through the mails.

Between Oct. 25 and Oct. 28, members of the RCMP and Sûreté du Québec, along with Canada Post inspectors, seized 55 packages, ranging in weight from one ounce to a pound and a half, which were on their way to 14 communities in northern Canada.

“Where there’s money to be made there’s all kinds of drugs to go round,” commented RCMP spokesman Sgt. Jimmy Akavak.

The seized substances included 25 pounds of marijuana, 55 grams of cocaine, 200 grams of hashish, six grams of marijuana oil, 40 bottles of alcohol, digital scales and plastic bags.

The traffickers were creative in how they hid the drugs: a microwave oven was taken apart so they could hide marijuana inside. They then reassembled it and repackaged the microwave oven as if it were new.

Other packaging included Canada Post envelopes with the drugs vacuum-sealed in an attempt to cut down on the odour.

Akavak wouldn’t say where the packages were headed because investigations are still continuing and charges have not yet been laid.

Supt. Howard Eaton, head of criminal operations for Nunavut’s RCMP, said the most important result of this investigation was stopping the drugs and alcohol from getting into the communities.

Above and beyond the violence stemming from alcohol abuse in Nunavut, drugs also drive social problems because every time a package comes in, drugs encourage robberies as people look for ways to make some quick cash.

Canada Post remains an attractive way for drug traffickers and bootleggers to get their product in to fly-in communities, so much so that in some places it’s hard for Canada Post to retain staff because sometimes people blame them when a package of drugs or alcohol gets intercepted, he said.

It took only four nights of work to find the 55 packages seized last month among the thousands that pass through the Canada Post sorting station in Montreal, the largest in the country.

“In order to do this all the time it would require a lot of resources,” Eaton said.