Jim Finnel
Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex News Moderator
These yams sure packed a punch.
More than 182 kilograms of hash oil and marijuana with a street value of about $5 million were discovered amid boxes of yams from Jamaica earlier this month.
The Canadian Border Services Agency said the drugs were found July 20 during the search of a marine container that arrived in the Port of Halifax.
The container, which held 1,345 cases of yams, was bound for Toronto.
Ten of those cases held 92.7 kilograms of hash oil and 89.7 kilograms of compressed marijuana.
Alonzo MacNeil, the agency’s chief of Halifax marine operation, said the seizure was a significant one.
"Certainly, we’ve had a past history of much, much larger seizures," he said.
"Relatively, this time last year, I believe we seized $19-million worth of hashish. So $5 million is certainly small than last year’s, let’s say. But $5 million is $5 million."
He said the container’s contents — fresh produce from Jamaica — played a role in the search.
"That area is what we deem to be a source country," Mr. MacNeil said.
"It’s certainly one that we would look at harder than other countries, let’s say."
A drug bust at the Halifax port last July 25 found 430 kilograms of hash oil, 196 kilograms of marijuana and 550 grams of hashish in a container that also held pumpkins, yams, sweet potatoes and canned and dried goods.
The drugs, in a container headed to Toronto from Kingston, Jamaica, had an estimated street value of $19 million.
Mr. MacNeil said there’s no indication the two cases are connected.
One of the larger recent seizures at the Port of Halifax occurred in June 2006, when more than four tonnes of hashish was found in bales of raw cotton in a container bound for Ontario from Pakistan.
The street value of those drugs was pegged at $48 million and was the third-largest haul of drugs intercepted at the port.
This year’s seizure was a joint operation between the agency and the RCMP.
Insp. Wayne Jacquard, officer in charge of major crime for Nova Scotia RCMP, said investigators were acting on information provided by the Toronto airport drug enforcement unit.
The unit learned of the drugs coming into the Port of Halifax through an investigation it was conducting that found several airport employees were involved in criminal activities.
He said the drugs will be shipped to Toronto as evidence in an ongoing investigation.
Officers ran the container through an X-ray machine, spotted an anomaly in the cargo, removed the contents and found the drugs in the cases of yams. The search took seven or eight hours.
Mr. MacNeil said the agency inspects many containers in the Port of Halifax, and the level of inspections ranges from X-raying the entire container to removing all of the cargo and going through it box by box.
News Hawk- User https://www.420magazine.com
Source: The Nova Scotia News
Author: AMY SMITH
Contact: asmith@herald.ca
Copyright: 2007 The Halifax Herald Limited
Website: Nova Scotia News - TheChronicleHerald.ca
More than 182 kilograms of hash oil and marijuana with a street value of about $5 million were discovered amid boxes of yams from Jamaica earlier this month.
The Canadian Border Services Agency said the drugs were found July 20 during the search of a marine container that arrived in the Port of Halifax.
The container, which held 1,345 cases of yams, was bound for Toronto.
Ten of those cases held 92.7 kilograms of hash oil and 89.7 kilograms of compressed marijuana.
Alonzo MacNeil, the agency’s chief of Halifax marine operation, said the seizure was a significant one.
"Certainly, we’ve had a past history of much, much larger seizures," he said.
"Relatively, this time last year, I believe we seized $19-million worth of hashish. So $5 million is certainly small than last year’s, let’s say. But $5 million is $5 million."
He said the container’s contents — fresh produce from Jamaica — played a role in the search.
"That area is what we deem to be a source country," Mr. MacNeil said.
"It’s certainly one that we would look at harder than other countries, let’s say."
A drug bust at the Halifax port last July 25 found 430 kilograms of hash oil, 196 kilograms of marijuana and 550 grams of hashish in a container that also held pumpkins, yams, sweet potatoes and canned and dried goods.
The drugs, in a container headed to Toronto from Kingston, Jamaica, had an estimated street value of $19 million.
Mr. MacNeil said there’s no indication the two cases are connected.
One of the larger recent seizures at the Port of Halifax occurred in June 2006, when more than four tonnes of hashish was found in bales of raw cotton in a container bound for Ontario from Pakistan.
The street value of those drugs was pegged at $48 million and was the third-largest haul of drugs intercepted at the port.
This year’s seizure was a joint operation between the agency and the RCMP.
Insp. Wayne Jacquard, officer in charge of major crime for Nova Scotia RCMP, said investigators were acting on information provided by the Toronto airport drug enforcement unit.
The unit learned of the drugs coming into the Port of Halifax through an investigation it was conducting that found several airport employees were involved in criminal activities.
He said the drugs will be shipped to Toronto as evidence in an ongoing investigation.
Officers ran the container through an X-ray machine, spotted an anomaly in the cargo, removed the contents and found the drugs in the cases of yams. The search took seven or eight hours.
Mr. MacNeil said the agency inspects many containers in the Port of Halifax, and the level of inspections ranges from X-raying the entire container to removing all of the cargo and going through it box by box.
News Hawk- User https://www.420magazine.com
Source: The Nova Scotia News
Author: AMY SMITH
Contact: asmith@herald.ca
Copyright: 2007 The Halifax Herald Limited
Website: Nova Scotia News - TheChronicleHerald.ca
