Ninja stars, daggers among items highlighted in border agency’s annual review

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This article was published 22/02/2016 (2591 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Customs officials seized a shipment of lethal ninja stars marked “cutlery,” arrested a man for giving immigrants false counselling and intercepted a chemical used to make a date rape drug.

The three items were highlights of the year in review for arrests and seizures by the Canada Border Service Agency in Winnipeg.

The 2015 review was condensed to a single page and listed the most dramatic seizures of contraband and arrests at overland borders and from commercial and passenger arrivals at the James Richardson International Airport.

There were more than 300 contraband seizures, including 151 prohibited weapons and firearms, at the airport, Canadian Border Services reported Monday in its the year-end summary.

The most inventive of the lot was the package destined for an Alberta address marked “Cutlery.”

When customs officials opened it, they came across a treasure trove of blades, including 30 five-pointed shurikens and five knifes with push-dagger handles.

Shurikens, also known as Ninja stars, are a traditional Japanese concealed weapon, once as essential to samurai warriors as their swords.

Shurikens are a prohibited weapon in Canada, as are the push-dagger knives seized with them as concealed weapons in the illegal shipment.

The contraband also included 41 narcotics seizures.

In June, officers seized two litres of a liquid known as GBL, a key ingredient in the manufacture of a date rape drug called gamma-hydroxybutyric acid. The shipment came from China and the importer was arrested by Winnipeg police with the assistance of customs officers.

In August, a Winnipeg man, 43, pleaded guilty to counselling immigrants to make false claims but customs officials provided no details Monday on the nature of the claims. The review merely said the guilty plea was related to “counselling misrepresentation” under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

The man was handed a fine of nearly $20,000, the review said.

“He was fined $19,502 for his role in aiding up to 42 Canadian permanent residents to provide false information” to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada,” the review stated.

In November, another Winnipeg man was sentenced to two years less a day for his role in a multimillion-dollar cross-Canada steroid smuggling and distribution operation.

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca