Baggage handler seen fleeing after $1 million of drugs seized at Toronto airport

A baggage handler, suspected of smuggling drugs, was caught in video fleeing through Toronto’s Pearson airport

In the dramatic footage obtained by CTV News Toronto, the airport worker who was caught in the act of moving a bag of cocaine and cannabis makes a run for it.

A mechanic appears to give chase through tunnels in a secure area at the airport before the baggage handler ducks into a luggage cart to hide.

He is then rumbled by Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers carrying torches who pull back the curtains to bust his hideaway.

The suspect tries to flee again but is then seen being taken down by cops.

The video footage was used as evidence in a court case where the handler was identified as 52-year-old Nigel Welsh, who was then found guilty of drug trafficking.

He was sentenced to nine years in prison in January.

Brampton Superior Court judge said: “Mr Welsh’s flight after being discovered caused what was, by all appearances, a major security incident at an international airport.

You must enable social media cookies to see this content. You can change your cookie settings under the link below.

Change settings

“An importing suspect was essentially running around the secure airside area of the airport,” Justice Mohammed Rahman wrote.

Before he was busted footage shows the same handler unloading luggage from a plane that had arrived from Jamaica.

Crime Wrap for Saturday February 7 

Security video shows him leaving the plane with a backpack after the other workers have finished and left.

He is then seen being chased through the tunnels, with the mechanic close behind.

During the chase, Mr. Welsh dropped a knapsack containing the drugs that he had retrieved from the plane,” Justice Rahman said.

When searched the backpack was found to contain mobile phones, nine one-kilogram bricks of cocaine and a 780-gram bag of cannabis, worth a total of $1million.

In court, Welsh insisted he wasn’t the man carrying the bag, saying he was just hiding in the luggage carts because he had lost his airport ID and he didn’t want to get into trouble.

But the phone found with the bag had accounts with his e-mail addresses while a security vest that had been discarded also had the initials ‘NW’, prosecutors pointed out.

Former Toronto detective Mark Mendelson told CTV News Toronto the suspect appeared to panic.

“They want to hide. But there’s not a lot of places to hide in the apron of an airport,” Mendelson said

 He added: “We’re talking about a premise that is laden with security cameras. They’re everywhere at Pearson Airport. So it’s high risk.”

Last year, the RCMP charged two baggage handlers at the same airport with switching tabs on bags to slip in about $150,000 worth of drugs.

And in 2019, two airline employees were charged in a drug ring operating out of Pearson.