Canada’s border agency says there is “growing evidence” that organized crime groups are trying to corrupt its officers.
Canada’s border agency says there’s “growing evidence” that organized crime groups are trying to corrupt its officers, leading to a growing number of cases of drug and firearm smuggling.
The warning was included in a set of documents prepared for Public Safety Minister Bill Blair when he took over the job late last year. The documents were obtained by CBC News through an access to information request.
Under the heading “increasing threat complexity,” the CBSA warns of “growing evidence of transnational criminal organizations seeking to exploit CBSA systems, processes and personnel and employing increasingly sophisticated concealment methods.”
The phrase “CBSA systems” refers to agency computer systems conducting data processing, record-keeping, communications, telecommunications, account inventory and account management, along with CBSA’s websites and electronic applications.
The briefing binder goes on to warn of a growing number of cross-border incidents involving “smuggling, counterfeit goods, human trafficking, money laundering and proceeds of crime … resulting in greater potential for Canadians to be exposed to harmful contraband” such as illegal firearms and drugs.
The CBSA wouldn’t say which crime organizations were the subject of its warning to the minister, or how many personnel are suspected of being involved.
It did say members of crime groups have been linked to incidents of seized goods, passenger interdictions, inadmissible persons and contraband smuggling, along w