Over 9,450 weapons, prohibited items were seized at BC and Yukon borders this year

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) seized over 9,450 weapons and prohibited items and made 7,960 narcotic seizures between January and October at borders in BC and Yukon.

According to the CBSA’s “year in review,” which was released earlier this week, the CBSA Pacific Region has more than 1,000 uniformed employees working at 43 ports of entry.

“The region includes an international mail centre, Canada’s third busiest airport and the country’s largest marine port, container examination facility and cruise ship terminal,” the CBSA said.

The weapons and prohibited items seized included 209 firearms, 666 miscellaneous parts of firearms or magazines, 7,747 prohibited weapons and 829 prohibited devices.

The CBSA said the narcotic seizures at BC and Yukon borders included 988 kg and 1,278 litres of methamphetamines, 279 kg of cocaine, 49 kg of opioids and 3,378 kg of illegal cannabis.

Officers also seized over $1,262,015, which was suspected to be proceeds of crime.

Last year, CBSA officers seized $721,426.

An additional 280 impaired driving arrests were made, which the CBSA said made up “50% of all impaired driving arrests across Canada’s land borders.”

Officers intercepted 119 stolen vehicles, which represented about $13 million worth of vehicles, the CBSA said in the news release.

“From Canada’s third largest airport and our large cruise ship and rail passenger operations, to our smaller northern ports, CBSA in the Pacific Region is committed to maintaining secure, resilient borders that safe-guard our communities,” the news release said.

“The Pacific Region facilitated the arrival of more than 19.2 million travellers at ports of entry in British Columbia and the Yukon. Officers welcomed nearly 1.6 million more travellers than last year, including returning Canadians and international visitors.”