TORONTO – Border officials say they’ve seized more than 18 kilograms of suspected cocaine stashed in a bathroom at Toronto’s Pearson airport.
The Canada Border Services Agency made the announcement Thursday, weeks after the June 17 discovery.
The agency says its officers noticed suspicious packages in the men’s bathroom in the Terminal 3 customs inspection hall and found 16 plastic-wrapped parcels tucked into an overhang above the stalls.
It says preliminary testing suggests they hold cocaine but the Mounties, who have the packages, will send a sample to Health Canada to make a final determination.
RCMP spokeswoman Michèle Paradis says officers also found a cellphone, batteries, a charging cord and a battery charger and that a forensic analysis is being done of the items for fingerprints and other possible clues.
Despite the need for lab testing, Paradis says the force is “99 per cent” sure the results will come back positive for cocaine.
“I can’t see why somebody would put baby powder, for example, up in the ceiling top of the airport,” she said.
She said no arrests have been made so far in the case.
Insp. Dean Dickson of the Mounties’ Toronto airport detachment said the city continues to be a shipping hub for drug smugglers.
“We are working together to ensure that we can address this smuggling,” he said in a statement.
