RCMP make $100M heroin bust at Pearson

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National Post

Plastic bags of heroin, packed into hollowed-out wooden pallets in Pearson International Airport, and heroin wrapped in paper stamped “Islamic Republic of Afghanistan,” hidden in machinery in a Toronto storage unit, have formed what the RCMP on Tuesday called one of the largest heroin busts in Canadian history.

It’s a seizure that points to a rapidly developing heroin market in Canada. And yet the three men police arrested weren’t even on their radar. The heroin, making up 117 kilograms in total, is worth $100-million in street value, police said. Police also seized more than $545,000 in cash after searching a Toronto address, and found another $100,000 in a storage unit.

Thousands of wooden pallets are unloaded every day at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, each bearing cargo to be picked up or delivered across the country. About a month ago, one Canadian border guard spotted something unusual in the rows and rows of cargo strewn across an airplane coming from Pakistan.

The random search prompted an investigation, dubbed “Project OBOARD,” that lasted three weeks. It was the first job undertaken by the Control Delivery Team, a joint force between the RCMP, Toronto Police and Peel Regional Police. Police won’t say what first piqued the border guard’s interest. But after dismantling the pallets, the guards discovered plastic bags containing about nine kilograms of heroin. The pallets, holding household goods, were destined for a Toronto address.

Searching the address turned up information on storage units in Toronto and Brampton where police said they found machine parts supposedly used for jewelry production. Opening the bottom of the machines’ pedestals, painted with chipping dark green paint, they found grey wrapping paper stamped with purple ink reading “Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.” Inside the wrapping, they found a 108-kilogram stash of heroin.

Speaking in front of a table piled with the drug, an off-white tinged powdery substance packed into clear bags, hollowed-out pallets, bags packed with $20- and $50-bills, and beat-up machinery, RCMP Superintendent Ron Allen, the officer in charge of the RCMP’s GTA drug squad, said the drug bust was the largest quantity of heroin he’s seen in his 35 years working with the RCMP. The heroin was shipped out of Pakistan, although he said police don’t yet know what city it came from. Police believe the drugs originated in Afghanistan.

“How long has it been going on? You don’t get to the point where you can bring 120-kilograms or 130 kilograms of heroin into a market without having some pretty good contacts and being in the business for a while,” he said. “That’s somebody who’s well-entrenched in the heroin trade. That’s somebody who you’d hope we would have some indicators on before. The bigger question would be, how many other groups have this capacity? That’s what’s worrisome.”

Supt. Allen said between 70 and 80 kilograms of heroin is seized nationally in a year. In 2008, the RCMP estimates 124 kilograms of heroin was smuggled into the country.

“There has been a real cultural shift that we’ve seen here in Canada over the last 4 or 5 years,” he said. “We have seen a huge increase in the amount of opium products coming into Canada, not just in the form of heroin but certainly in the form of opium as well.”

Supt. Allen said he doesn’t yet know if the stash was all for use in the Canadian drug market because the investigation is ongoing. But he said Toronto is becoming a trading post city for heroin importers and exporters. “We’re becoming a shipping country for heroin. It’s something we need to have a closer look at.”

Supt. Allen wouldn’t say in which city the drugs came off the shipping boat, but said usually routes dock at Montreal or Halifax.

He said border security, particularly in shipping ports, is a huge issue in Canada and leaves the country vulnerable to criminals who know the system.

“You’ve got some of these container ships that arrive with 4,000 containers. There’s no way that we can check or clear them all,” he said. “Do you know how much that would delay the market? There’s a commercial side to this. Is it a problem? It is.

“I think Canadians should be concerned.”

Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan released a statement commending the squad for the seizure.

“This government’s message is clear - the production, trafficking and distribution of illegal drugs in our communities will not be tolerated. We will continue to provide law enforcement with the tools they need to tackle organized crime and drug traffickers,” he said.

Ali Murtaza, 35, Nazma Murtaza, 34, and Al Saadat, 50, were arrested on July 22 and face charges under the Criminal Code and Controlled Drug and Substances Act.

All three appeared in Brampton court on July 23.