Border agents find half tonne of opium hidden in Vancouver-area shipping container

Piles of coal awaiting export and gantry cranes used to load and unload containers onto and from cargo ships are seen at Deltaport, in Delta, B.C., on Monday, September 9, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

DELTA — Canadian border authorities have seized more than half a tonne of opium found hidden in industrial paper rolls in a cargo container in a Metro Vancouver port site.

The Canada Border Services Agency says in a release that the discovery was made in January, when agents referred a container to an examination facility in Delta, B.C.

The agency says the container was flagged based on information from border and intelligence officials in Canada and the United States.

The agency says a detector dog team indicated the container held contraband, and an X-ray found nine of the 20 industrial paper rolls inside had “internal inconsistencies.”

Officers eventually found about 520 kilograms of opium hidden inside 10 paper rolls.

No information about possible suspects linked in the case has been released.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 23, 2026.

The Canadian Press