More than 107 kilograms of suspected cocaine were discovered in a commercial vehicle heading into Canada on Oct. 21.
SURREY – Mounties are investigating after a massive haul of suspected cocaine was found hidden in a shipment of rice at a B.C. border crossing.
Canada Border Services Agency officers allegedly discovered 107.5 kilograms of coke inside a commercial vehicle that was heading into Canada from the U.S. at the Pacific Highway crossing last month.
“[Officers] discovered numerous bricks of a white powdered substance,” the CBSA said in a release announcing the find this week. “After performing a field test, the suspected cocaine was seized.”
The driver and apparent drugs were turned over to the RCMP, which is continuing to investigate.
The seizure occurred Oct. 21 when border guards at the Pacific Highway border crossing in Surrey, B.C. found “numerous bricks of a white powdered substance” during a routine commercial vehicle examination, according to a statement from the CBSA.
The vehicle was seeking entry into Canada from the U.S., the statement said.
Border agents performed a field test and turned over the suspected drugs and the driver to RCMP, which is investigating, the release said.
Kathy Liu, a spokesperson for the CBSA, said it’s hard to know how much money the seizure represents in terms of street value because exact pricing can depend on how the alleged drugs are cut and processed before they’re sold.
“We don’t actually associate a value to the drugs we seize anymore,” Liu said.
Officers made about 90 narcotic seizures at the crossing from 2011 to 2015, according to the CBSA
The CBSA says it has made 116 narcotics seizures at the Pacific Highway crossing between 2011 and the end of October 2016, and processed more than 438,000 travellers last year.
