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Charges laid against three Ontario residents after smuggling 1.5 tonnes of cocaine into Canada

January 18, 2023  By Blue Line Staff / Royal Canadian Mounted Police


Jan. 18, 2023, Kitchener, Ont. – The RCMP Federal Police Transnational Serious and Organized Crime (TSOC) team from the Kitchener detachment, with the assistance of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), the Brantford Police Service and Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), have unraveled a sophisticated international drug importation scheme leading to multiple charges against three individuals.

The investigation began in the fall of 2021, after CBSA Intelligence received information about exported shipments originating from Central America. The CBSA, in partnership with RCMP’s TSOC team, worked to identify the shipments and the individuals involved. In December 2021, the CBSA began tracking a marine shipping container of interest exported from Central America with a final destination of Saint John, NB. The investigation revealed that the container’s contents were imported by a Brantford resident.

In early January 2022, border services officers in Saint John, New Brunswick, seized more than 1.5 tonnes of cocaine concealed within industrial machinery. The total value of the seized cocaine on the current illicit market was approximately $198,000,000 CAD. Evidence was turned over to the New Brunswick and Ontario RCMP for further investigation.

A joint investigation was initiated resulting in the Kitchener RCMP and Brantford Police executing search warrants in Brantford and New Hamburg this week.

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The accused are scheduled to appear in court on January 19 and January 20, 2023, in the Brantford Courthouse.

“As evidenced in this successful investigation, cross-agency collaboration is essential to combat organized crime and beneficially impact community safety. The Brantford Police Service is proud to be a partner and I would like to thank the officers involved for their outstanding efforts,” said Chief Rob Davis, Brantford Police Service.


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