{"id":580669,"date":"2026-04-04T00:57:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T00:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/580669\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T00:57:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T00:57:08","slug":"canada-seized-3-7-tonnes-of-cocaine-at-border-in-nine-month-period","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/580669\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada seized 3.7 tonnes of cocaine at border in nine-month period"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The Peace Bridge Canada-U.S. border crossing, on March 20, seen from Buffalo, N.Y.Yuki Iwamura\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Canadian border guards are seizing the highest quantities of illegal narcotics in years, including a sizable increase of cocaine, much of it entering Canada by way of the United States \u2013 a sign that drugs continue to move easily through that country, despite promises to the contrary by the Donald Trump<\/a> administration. <\/p>\n

Canada intercepted more cocaine in the first nine months of the 2025-2026 fiscal year \u2013 3.7 tonnes \u2013 than in any full year since at least 2018, the latest for which Canada Border Services Agency<\/a> maintains enforcement action records on its website. It also seized considerable volumes of other drugs, including cannabis. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s not record-breaking, it\u2019s close to record-breaking,\u201d Aaron McCrorie, vice-president of the CBSA intelligence and enforcement branch, said in an interview.<\/p>\n

The increasing numbers for cocaine, in particular, reflect the surging fortunes of the drug, as growing production in South America brings down prices so low that, in some parts of Europe, traffickers have taken to burying their product to reduce supply.<\/p>\n

But they also reflect the ease with which narcotics continue to enter and travel through the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cCocaine coming into Canada, it\u2019s coming in primarily in the land mode via the United States \u2013 but the United States isn\u2019t the source,\u201d Mr. McCrorie said. <\/p>\n

2025 Investigation: White House using misleading fentanyl data to justify tariffs<\/a><\/p>\n

For years, Mr. Trump has advocated strengthened borders, with new walls and newly vigorous enforcement that, he has repeatedly promised, would keep out drugs as well as migrants. <\/p>\n

His administration designated drug cartels as terrorist organizations, bombed boats in Caribbean waters and, last year, imposed tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China that, Mr. Trump said, was intended to spur efforts to stifle the movement of fentanyl into his country.<\/p>\n

Those efforts have yielded great success, his administration has said. \u201cWe currently have the most SECURE border in AMERICAN HISTORY,\u201d the Department of Homeland Security wrote on social media earlier this month. \u201cOur borders are CLOSED to lawbreakers and drug cartels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canada, meanwhile, has pledged new vigilance at its border, with resources for additional detection technology and a thousand new officers as part of a late 2024 federal investment of $1.3-billion into border security over six years, which included $355-million for the CBSA. <\/p>\n

But the deployment of new technologies has been slow, and the first class of new border officers only graduated a month ago, too late to meaningfully alter current-year seizure statistics.<\/p>\n

CBSA says 67 per cent of drugs seized in Operation Blizzard were coming into Canada from U.S.<\/a><\/p>\n

Instead, the rise in seizures this year reflects a broader reality, that promises of strict border crackdowns \u2013 and even increased success in seizures \u2013 often struggle to make much difference in the flow of drugs. <\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter how good your border enforcement is, there\u2019s just no way to really make an appreciable dent into the quantity of cocaine coming through,\u201d said Stephen Schneider, a criminologist at Saint Mary\u2019s University in Halifax who specializes in organized crime.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration\u2019s rhetoric around halting drug movements, he said, is deeply coloured by a politics that has blamed migrants and other countries, Canada included, while avoiding responsibility for \u201cthe fact that your border patrol is not being able to stop drugs \u2013 or guns coming into Canada or Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n

Global cocaine production has hit record levels, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said in a report last year, which estimated a one-third increase in 2023 alone. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been fighting organized crime and corruption for more than 25 years, and a lot of these illicit markets have only gotten worse \u2013 even though there\u2019s good co-operation, the criminal activities just continue to expand and increase in the U.S., and in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brothers plead guilty in cross-border smuggling of 45,000 kg of tobacco, CBSA says<\/a><\/p>\n

In the U.S., the Coast Guard said in February that it had seized more than 90 tonnes of cocaine since last August alone. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe success of Operation Pacific Viper proves that we own the sea,\u201d Admiral Kevin Lunday, Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, said then.<\/p>\n

But large volumes of the drug continue to traverse the continent by land and rising seizures at the Canadian border suggest that smugglers have found ways to efficiently move through the U.S.<\/p>\n

In fact, Mr. McCrorie said, Canadian and U.S. authorities are working together more closely than in the past. <\/p>\n

The Trump administration has fomented political and economic rifts with Canada. But in drug enforcement, if the relationship between the two countries has \u201cchanged, it\u2019s for the better,\u201d Mr. McCrorie said.<\/p>\n

That includes improved sharing of details that can improve enforcement work.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnderstanding the means of concealment, where it\u2019s taking place, who is involved \u2013 sharing information on that \u2013 we\u2019ve always done that, but we\u2019re doing it quicker,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd by doing it quicker, we can adjust on each side what we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The Peace Bridge Canada-U.S. border crossing, on March 20, seen from Buffalo, N.Y.Yuki…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":580670,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":{"0":"post-580669","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-ca","15":"tag-canada","16":"tag-canada-news","17":"tag-canada-sports","18":"tag-canada-sports-news","19":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","20":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","21":"tag-canadian-news","22":"tag-economy","23":"tag-education","24":"tag-environment","25":"tag-federal-government","26":"tag-foreign-news","27":"tag-globe-and-mail","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","29":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","30":"tag-government","31":"tag-life-news","32":"tag-lifestyle","33":"tag-local-news","34":"tag-manitoba","35":"tag-national-news","36":"tag-new-brunswick","37":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","38":"tag-news","39":"tag-northwest-territories","40":"tag-nova-scotia","41":"tag-nunavut","42":"tag-ontario","43":"tag-pei","44":"tag-photos","45":"tag-political-news","46":"tag-political-opinion","47":"tag-politics","48":"tag-politics-news","49":"tag-quebec","50":"tag-sports-news","51":"tag-technology","52":"tag-travel","53":"tag-trudeau","54":"tag-us-news","55":"tag-world-news","56":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}