Border Agents Seize Cocaine Shipment Hidden in Cans of Beans
By PATRICIA BROOKS ARENBURG (pbrooks@herald.ca)
Staff Reporter – The Halifax Herald: September 29, 2011
Agents at the Port of Halifax did a random check earlier this month of a shipping container that arrived directly from Cartagena carrying cans labelled as beans.
Using an x-ray machine, they noticed a large portion of the cans had a different density and went in for a closer look, Dominic Mallette, the agency’s Nova Scotia chief of operations, said in an interview.
The agents discovered 32 kilograms of cocaine — worth about $4 million — stuffed into 122 cans. The bags of cocaine were surrounded by sand to give the cans, which had false bottoms, added weight.
After the Sept. 1 discovery, the agency contacted RCMP. The Mounties seized the drugs and border services agents repacked the shipment with other material and sent it along as if interception had not occurred, Mallette said.
The container was destined for an unidentified food distribution company in Saint-Jerome, Quebec.
RCMP followed the container to a warehouse in Lachine, Quebec, where they arrested two men on Sept. 15.
Luis Carlos Moreno, 48, and Julian Andrey Mazuera, 32, are each charged with conspiracy to import cocaine and and possession for the purpose of trafficking.
RCMP said in a news release that Moreno was a shareholder of the food distribution company that was expecting the shipment.
The men are being held in custody and are expected to appear in a Quebec court on Oct. 7 for a bail hearing.
