Calgary border guards seized tennis balls packed with suspected opium

Canadian border agents seized tennis balls stuffed with what they believe to be opium earlier this month at the Calgary airport.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) on Wednesday touted the interception of the tainted tennis balls, which were found inside a suitcase containing 3.3 kilograms of a black tar-like substance.

“Officers noted anomalies within the tennis balls,” the agency said in a statement. That substance later tested positive for “suspected opium.”

Officers also seized a small amount of steroids in the luggage.

A 32-year-old man, Ravinder Summan, was charged with importing a controlled substance and possession for the purpose of trafficking. He will next appear in court in Calgary on October 26, an RCMP spokesperson told VICE News.

Alberta has seen a number of high-profile drug seizures in recent months amid a worsening opioid crisis. Last month, police in Calgary made one of the province’s biggest fentanyl busts after carrying out warrants on a number of addresses in the city.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that can be used as a prescription for chronic pain. The bootleg form of the drug, often produced in unregulated pharmaceutical labs in China, has been linked to skyrocketing rates of overdoses and deaths in North America in recent years. Opium, a narcotic obtained from poppies, is used to create a number of other drugs with similar properties such as heroin and prescription drugs like Oxycontin.

The RCMP charged a Calgary man last August with importing 50 million doses of carfentanil — a synthetic opioid around 100 times more powerful than fentanyl — after CBSA staff seized a package at the Vancouver airport that was destined for his address.

Alberta saw 241 fentanyl-related deaths in the first half of 2017. There were a total of 343 the year before.

According to numbers sent to VICE News earlier this month, the CBSA has made more than 31 fentanyl seizures this year, netting more than 5,548.72 grams of the drug that has increasingly contaminated the illicit narcotics supply. Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids have been linked to thousands of overdose deaths in 2016.

In May, a new federal law granted CBSA agents broad powers to search small packages suspected to contain fentanyl or other suspected illicit drugs. Harm reduction and health experts have criticized this approach as unhelpful in treating addictions and other health concerns that may contribute to overdoses.