Correctional officers seized about $37,000 worth of drugs from Bowden Institution on Jan. 14, it was announced Friday.
Corrections canine teams, with assistance from the RCMP and Canada Border Services Agency, seized 86 grams of marijuana, more than 800 “suspect” pills now being analyzed, a cellphone and tobacco from the facility’s minimum-security farm annex in a routine search.
Graham Andrews, spokesman for Correctional Service Canada, said the RCMP and CBSA were involved because “we work with our partners in law enforcement all the time” and that the CBSA brought a canine team to help out.
“It doesn’t matter what the security level of the institution is. We have highly trained staff and measures to stop the flow of contraband into institutions,” said Andrews when asked if minimum-security facilities are more open to drug-smuggling than others.