$170K worth of contraband seized from B.C. prison

The Mission Correctional Institution in Mission, B.C. is pictured Tuesday, April 14, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Staff at a medium-security prison in B.C. seized drugs and other unauthorized items late last month, according to Correctional Service Canada.

The package seized at Mission Institution April 24 contained methamphetamine, THC shatter, tobacco, and one charging cable, the agency said.

CSC estimates the institutional value of the contraband to total $170,125.

“The police have been notified and the institution is investigating,” reads a notice from CSC issued Friday.

The seizure happened the same day a 10-day lockdown and “exceptional search” at Matsqui Institution in Abbotsford ended, which resulted in staff seizing drug paraphernalia, pills, tattoo paraphernalia and homemade weapons.

Earlier in April, items including cannabis concentrate, crystal methamphetamine, fentanyl, MDMA and “a number of opiate pills” were seized at the Fraser Valley Institution, with an estimated institutional value of $16,000.

CSC says it is ramping up measures to prevent contraband from entering prisons and works with police to “take action against those who attempt to introduce contraband into correctional institutions.”