Canada Border Services Agency detector dog Chuck recently sniffed out $18,000 in undeclared Canadian cash at Toronto Pearson Airport in Mississauga. (Photo: Canada Border Services Agency X)

A Canada border services detector dog struck it rich recently at Toronto Pearson Airport in Mississauga, but he didn’t get to keep the cash.

Instead, the more than $18,000 in undeclared Canadian currency unearthed by Canada Border Services Agency four-legged law enforcement officer Chuck was seized by authorities.

And the traveller who attempted to bring the money into Canada on a flight from China was fined, the CBSA said on Wednesday.

The agency didn’t say when, specifically, the flight arrived at Canada’s biggest and busiest airport.

The CBSA reminds travellers “there are no restrictions on the amount of money you can bring into or take out of Canada and it is not illegal to do so — you just need to declare it.”

Must declare funds of $10K or more

The agency further noted on its website that whether entering or leaving the country, travellers must declare any currency/cash or “monetary instruments (cheques, money orders, bank drafts, etc.)” valued at CDN $10,000 or more they are carrying.

“This amount includes Canadian or foreign currency or a combination of both,” the CBSA said, adding it will not return funds if they are seized “as suspected proceeds of crime or funds for financing terrorist activities.

“This applies to all travellers, couriers and people carrying money on behalf of someone else.”

The agency noted monetary instruments include, but are not limited to:

Stocks and/or bonds
Cheques
Money orders and/or bank drafts
Traveller’s cheques

“You must also declare funds you send to or from Canada by mail or by courier,” the CBSA said.

For those who fail to abide by the rules, the federal agency says it has the authority to seize all currency and monetary instruments if the entire value is not reported. The funds may be returned after a penalty is paid.

Penalties range from five to 50 per cent of the seized funds, the CBSA said.

For more information, visit the Canadian government website.

Team of detector dogs on patrol at Pearson

Chuck, the canine officer who sniffed out the undeclared currency recently at Pearson, is one of an unspecified number of well-trained detector dogs at the airport.

The border services agency told INsauga.com earlier that it cannot disclose the number of detector dogs on duty at any of Canada’s airports at a given time.

The CBSA’s law enforcement dogs “are trained specifically to detect a wide range of contraband such as drugs, guns, money, and food, plant and animal products,” a CBSA spokesperson said earlier.


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