7 Of The Biggest (And Strangest) Canada Border Services Agency Busts In Quebec This Year
From weapons to luxury watches, it's been a busy year for border agents.
It's been quite a year for the Canada Border Services Agency at Quebec's border crossings. They've been busy stopping illegal and downright weird things from entering the province. In addition, they've managed to collect several thousands of dollars in fines from people who seem to have no idea how to conduct themselves at a border crossing.
From something as innocuous as luxury watches to something as sinister as fentanyl, the CBSA has seized all kinds of things at the border this year.
Plenty of guns and drugs
It's really incredible what some people think they can sneak into the county. For instance, since January 1, the CBSA says they stopped over 1,500 prohibited weapons and weapon parts from entering Quebec.
The Montréal-Trudeau Airport is apparently a very popular place to try to bring drugs into the province. In one case on July 11, border services officers at the airport seized 25 kilograms of amphetamines the CBSA valued at $1,442,000. Needless to say, the traveller was arrested on site.
Airport border agents also seized 1,165 fentanyl patches valued at $250,000 on February 12.
But sometimes, people try to sneak in drugs through the mail. On February 15, 2.6 kilograms of opium that was valued at $156,000 was seized at the Léo-Blanchette International Mail Processing Centre in Montreal.
Luxury goods
In one of the more laughable situations, the CBSA says a traveller was intercepted at the Saint-Amand border crossing with a luxury watch that they undervalued by $21,500.
According to the CBSA, "Had the traveller declared the initial value of the watch honestly, they would have paid about $3,900 in taxes," rather than the $16,155.69 fine they were handed.
In another airport incident, border agents caught one traveller with "several undeclared luxury goods (with a total value of close to $400,000), including a diamond ring valued at $220,000."