The Canada Border Services Agency has released highlight numbers of its seizures and interceptions at Southern Ontario border crossings over the past year — including 30 kilograms of cocaine and 11 foreign nationals at the Ambassador Bridge.
According to the CBSA, the figures show the outstanding work being done in the communities of Windsor, Sarnia, London, Fort Erie, and Niagara Falls, where border services officers processed just under 25 million travellers in 2017.
The tally of seized cocaine includes 25 bricks (totalling 30.6 kilograms in weight) found hidden within a commercial load at the Ambassador Bridge on Sept. 22.
Ontario residents Preet Kiran Singh Gill and Suresh Nath Sharma were charged by the RCMP with offences related to the importation of cocaine and possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
The 11 foreign nationals intercepted at the Ambassador Bridge were found hiding in the sleeper area of a tractor trailer cab on Sept. 21.
The truck drivers, Quebec residents Paul Ngoue-Ngameleu and Henadez Makia Mbeh, were charged with 23 violations of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
Other numbers of interest from the CBSA concerning Southern Ontario in 2017:
- 1,653 drug seizures, including a total of 171.5 kilograms of cocaine
- 235 firearm seizures
- 672 prohibited weapon seizures
- Five child pornography seizures
- 9,444 litres of seized alcohol
- 245 seizures of tobacco products
- 10 seizures of cash suspected to be proceeds from crime, totalling $228,438
- 100 interceptions of drivers impaired by drinking or drugs
- 23 arrests of persons breaching court-ordered conditions
- 26 arrests of suspects in criminal cases
- 1,172 people removed from the country
- Five missing or abducted children found
Anyone with information about suspicious cross-border activity is encouraged to call the CBSA’s toll-free border watch hotline: 1-888-502-9060.