RCMP traffic stop leads to largest marijuana seizure in Canada

July 28, 2018, 5:25 am

Winnipeg, Manitoba – On July 22, 2018, a RCMP officer on traffic patrol stopped a commercial semi-trailer on the Trans-Canada Highway at Westhawk, Manitoba. The stop was initiated to conduct a regulatory inspection of the driver’s paperwork. These checks are done to ensure safety of commercial vehicles and their loads as commercial vehicles are involved in approximately 20% of road fatalities every year in Manitoba.

When the officer stopped this vehicle and checked the driver’s paperwork, several discrepancies were discovered. The load was then examined by several officers in order to try and resolve those discrepancies. When the officers opened the trailer, they found 925 pounds of vacuum-packaged marijuana as well as 75 pounds of cannabis shatter, oils, and edibles hidden among the legitimate load of food products.

The driver of the vehicle was arrested; the drugs and the semi-trailer were seized. Claudiu Huber, 46, from Agassiz, BC, is charged with Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking and Trafficking a Controlled Substance. He has been released pending a future court date.

The semi-trailer load originated in lower mainland, BC, and was destined for southern Ontario.
This seizure is the largest marihuana seizure through a traffic stop in Canada since 2015.

Illicit drugs destroy lives, homes, and communities. The marijuana in this seizure was produced and trafficked illegally, and destined for the illegal market. For end consumers, there is no way to know the origin or the potency of the marihuana in this seizure, which could have very harmful health effects on anyone consuming the drug. The RCMP remains fully committed to enforcing laws against illicit drugs to their fullest extent in the interest of public safety.