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HALIFAX — The Canada Border Services Agency says its officers recently seized 1.5 tonnes of a substance that initial tests indicate to be cocaine.

RCMP Supt. Jason Popik said in an interview today the large shipment is almost certainly pure cocaine, but final tests completed by the federal police are underway to confirm the initial sampling by border agents.

The border agency says in a release the operation began on March 4 when U.S. Homeland Security flagged the possibility of contraband inside a marine shipping container originating in California and destined for Europe. 

Two days later, the shipping container was examined at the Port of Halifax, leading to the seizure of 1,556 kilograms of the substance believed to be cocaine.

Popik says the drugs weren't destined for Halifax but rather were on their way to Europe on a ship that was loaded in Los Angeles and travelled through the Panama Canal.

He says the drugs were packaged in kilogram blocks and disguised as a shipment of recycled plastics. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 19, 2024.

The Canadian Press