Border agents in Montreal intercepted millions of amphetamine tablets concealed in hundreds of PVC panels inside a container from China.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) said officials made the “major” seizure on Aug. 29 at the Montreal Marine And Rail Services on Tellier Street in the city’s Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough.
Border agents seized an estimated 11,199,432 tablets hidden inside 744 panels. According to the CBSA, the tablets have an estimated value of nearly $56 million, but are likely worth much more on the black market.
The contraband was found during a search of the container “using a variety of detection tools on which an anomaly appeared,” the CBSA said in a news release on Friday.
The tablets were sent to the RCMP for destruction.
“I want to thank the Canada Border Services Agency for the excellent work they do in combatting organized crime and keeping illicit drugs from ending up in our communities,” said federal public safety minister Dominic LeBlanc in a statement.