Drugs, guns, stolen vehicles and inadmissible entries mark busy year at border: CBSA

A Canada Border Services Agency officer investigates a vehicle crossing at the Niagara Falls International Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls, Ontario Friday, June 7, 2024. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Lynett)

The Canada Border Services Agency says there’s been an increase in the confiscation of illegal items at border crossings, as well as a jump in inadmissible foreign nationals attempting to enter Canada from the U.S., this year compared to last.

According to the agency, there have been more seizures of dangerous drugs, firearms and stolen vehicles in the first 10 months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.

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From Jan. 1 through Oct. 31, agents seized:

• 15,500 weapons and 850 firearms at ports of entry with the vast majority coming from the U.S. The number of firearms seized is 50 more than in the same timeframe in 2023.
• 25,600 kg of illegal drugs
• 5,000 kg of cannabis
• 547,000 kg of undeclared tobacco
• 4.9 kg of fentanyl, an increase of 775 per cent over the same period in 2023
• 3,955 kg of cocaine, an increase of 168 per cent over the same period in 2023
• 37 kg of heroin
• 21,457 kg of other drugs, narcotics and precursor chemicals
• 237 kg of other opioids (including opium, methadone, morphine and morphine base)

Agents also intercepted 2,070 stolen vehicles before they were shipped abroad which, according to the CBSA, is nearly 500 more than last year.

“Over the past year and beyond, the Canada Border Services Agency has played a pivotal role in combatting criminal activity by interdicting guns and illegal drugs at our borders,” said The Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs in a statement. “I would like to thank all employees, from every corner of the Agency, for their dedication in safeguarding the health and safety of our communities, and in maintaining the integrity of the border we share with our most important ally and trading partner, the United States.”

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The CBSA is also reporting an increase in the number of inadmissible foreign nationals attempting to enter Canada at land border crossings with the U.S. In the first 10 months of this year, agents turned away nearly 34,000 people considered inadmissible, roughly 30 per cent more than the 25,500 identified in the same period in 2023.

The agency also removed more than 14,000 foreign nationals from Canada between New Year’s Day and Halloween this year due to violations of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

The increase in seizures and inadmissible foreign nationals is being met by an increase in CBSA staff. The agency says it will have welcomed over 500 new officer trainees and 18 new detector dog teams by the end of this year.