B.C. man facing charges after cocaine found in luggage during Calgary layover: CBSA

Cocaine seized by CBSA officers at the Calgary International Airport on Nov. 17, 2024, and an x-ray of the bag it came in. (Source: CBSA)

A traveller from B.C. was arrested in Calgary during a flight layover last month after border officers discovered several kilograms of cocaine inside a bag.

Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) said officers at the Calgary International Airport searched luggage from a commercial flight that was bound for the United Kingdom on Nov. 17.

Inside, they found 12 kilograms of pressed cocaine and a tracking device. The alleged owner of the bag was then arrested by CBSA before boarding the flight to London’s Heathrow Airport.

Following an investigation by several policing agencies, 29-year-old Justin Harry Carl Beck, of Port Coquitlam, B.C., was charged with exportation of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking.

Beck is scheduled to appear in court in Calgary on May 6.