Heroin arrives in food shipment
Staff at a northeast Calgary convenience store made an unusual discovery while unpacking a shipment of pre-packaged processed food from California last week.
Inside one of the boxes, they found tightly sealed rolls that contained what’s believed to be two kilograms of heroin worth approximately $600,000.
Now police are trying to determine when the drugs were placed within the shipment and where they were supposed to be removed before reaching the store.
“Someone somewhere along this rather circuitous route from the plant in California missed the load of dope,” said Staff Sgt. Quinn Jacques with the Calgary Police Service’s guns and gangs unit.
“To my knowledge, it’s the largest shipment of heroin that we’ve seen in Calgary in a long time. It’s significant.”
The workers were unloading the shipment on March 11 when they came across a box that didn’t feel right, Jacques said, adding it was inconsistent with the rest of the processed food packages.
“What was telling to the employees who were opening the pallet was the weight was different than the rest of the food,” he said.
The employees immediately notified police who responded along with members of the fire department and EMS.
Police found two clear, heatsealed bags with the word “Navi” written on the exterior, and the heroin compacted inside.
“We believe this load of drugs was inadvertently delivered to the convenience store. We’re satisfied at this point, the convenience store employees, the convenience store itself, the chain itself had nothing to do with this offence,” said Jacques, who declined to name the store or the chain.
“We’re not sure if (Navi) is a person or an organization or a code word. So we’re really trying to appeal to people in the trucking industry, the shipping industry, logistical support and freight forwarding to see if that rings any bells for them or jogs their memory.”
Calgary police is working with American law enforcement agencies on the case.