The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) seized more than 26 kilograms of methamphetamine during a month-long operation targeting smugglers using flights and Canada Post to send drugs abroad, with nearly half of the exports destined for Australia.
Operation Sky Shield results
During Project Sky Shield, CBSA conducted 20,138 examinations and made 123 seizures of illegal narcotics and their precursors. The haul included 26 kg of methamphetamine, 56 kg of cannabis, and smaller amounts of cocaine, GHB, ketamine, MDMA, methadone, and psilocybin.
Almost half the seizures—48 per cent—were destined for Australia, while exports to New Zealand accounted for 26 per cent and the United Kingdom 14 per cent. Other destinations included the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, the Philippines, Japan, Iran, and Spain.
Lucrative Oceania market
While a kilogram of meth is worth a few thousand dollars in Canada, it can be sold in Australia or New Zealand for up to $200,000. Canadian transnational criminal organizations have used various methods to smuggle meth to the region, including hiding drugs in containers leaving the Port of Vancouver.
In May, Australian Federal Police charged a Sydney man for attempting to smuggle 300 kg of meth hidden inside pressure washers that originated in British Columbia. The CBSA uncovered the meth and alerted the RCMP, who contacted Australian authorities. In March, two Australians were charged after another failed attempt to import 115 kg of meth from B.C., this time concealed inside jars of pickles. The RCMP and CBSA had identified and intercepted that outbound shipment.
Declining fentanyl exports
The CBSA also noted that export seizures of fentanyl were down 43 per cent between 2024 and 2025, after the agency expanded resources to detect and disrupt the fentanyl trade, including increased capacity and new tools at ports of entry and exit.
“The CBSA will continue to disrupt the supply chain for illicit drugs and deter criminals from exploiting our borders for illegal means as part of Canada’s overarching efforts to strengthen border security, combat organized crime and ensure communities here in Canada, and across the world, are protected from dangerous drugs,” the agency said in a news release.
Canada’s so-called fentanyl czar Kevin Brosseau added that “the illegal drug trade is global in nature with devastating local impacts calling for coordinated actions to eradicate it. Operation Sky Shield is delivering concrete results to do so.”
CBSA president Erin O’Gorman said the results “demonstrate that not only are we continuing to intercept dangerous narcotics at our borders, but the work we are doing under Canada’s Border Plan to stem the flow of fentanyl and its precursors from reaching our communities, and those of our international partners, is delivering results.”
