After seizing nearly eight kilograms of heroin from a traveler’s suitcase on Thursday last week, border agents stationed at Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau International Airport in Montreal seized nearly six more, in the same circumstances last Monday.
Posted at 8:43 p.m.
As on Thursday of last week, the drugs were discovered in the suitcase of a passenger arriving from South Africa and who was immediately arrested by Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers stationed at the airport.
A 0.05 gram dose of heroin sells for $20 on the street and according to experts, five kilograms of heroin is worth more than 2 million on the black market.
“The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) made a seizure of suspected heroin on May 16 in the early evening at Montreal-Trudeau airport, a total of 5.8 kg for an estimated value of 2, 3 million, with the help of the dog Pixie. The alleged heroin was discovered in the traveller’s luggage. The traveler was arriving in Canada from Johannesburg, South Africa, via Doha, Qatar. The RCMP is following up,” he told The Press CBSA spokesperson Patrick Mahaffy.
The passenger, Jenny Siaw Ying Wong, 59, believed to be a resident of British Columbia, was charged with importing heroin and possessing heroin for the purpose of trafficking Monday at the Montreal courthouse.
The prosecution has opposed his release and his bail hearing has been set for Thursday of next week, for the record.
Mme Wong was arriving from South Africa, having stopped over in Qatar, just like Maurice Nadeau, 68, a resident of the small town of Chapais in northern Quebec arrested last week at Trudeau airport with nearly 8 kilograms of heroin hidden in his suitcase.
While it was an X-ray device that allowed customs officers to discover the drug supposedly transported by Mr. Nadeau, the one hidden in the alleged suitcase of Mr.me Wong was found thanks to the Pixie sniffer dog whose photo CBSA sent us.
More than 13 kilograms of heroin seized in five days, this would therefore represent a total value of more than 5 million on the black market.
According to our information, other similar heroin seizures have also been made recently at Toronto’s Pearson airport.
The RCMP in Montreal did not want to comment on these seizures so as not to interfere with the judicial process.
To reach Daniel Renaud, dial 514 285-7000, ext. 4918, write to [email protected] or write to the postal address of The Press.