US Border Protection Seizes Fentanyl in Package From Canada at Seattle Port

A customs agent wears a patch for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency in a file photo taken Oct. 27, 2017, at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. Mark Lennihan/AP Photo

U.S. authorities say they have intercepted a package from Canada which contained more than a pound of fentanyl.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said the seizure was made by officers from the Area Port of Seattle on Feb. 6.

Border agents made the discovery of a “brown rock-like substance in plastic bags” while conducting a targeted operation in an unspecified shipping facility, CBP said in a Feb. 12 statement. The substance was tested and determined to contain fentanyl.

Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid, with two milligrams being sufficient to kill a person. One pound of fentanyl, or 0.45 kilograms, is enough to kill more than 200,000 people.

U.S. President Donald Trump imposed broad tariffs on Canada and Mexico earlier this month over illegal migrants and fentanyl coming over the border. Both countries promised measures to mitigate the issue and Trump approved a one-month pause on tariffs to assess the response.

Mexico said it would send 10,000 troops to the border to address border concerns. Meanwhile, Canada bolstered its initial border plan by appointing a “fentanyl czar” and announcing it would list drug cartels as terrorist entities, following the United States’ lead.

A Feb. 13 White House fact sheet explaining a separate set of tariffs said Trump “leveraged tariffs to force Canada and Mexico to make long-overdue changes at our northern and southern borders.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau discussed the tariff threat this week, saying it looms over Canada “even though we point out that only 1 percent of fentanyl entering the U.S. comes from Canada.”

CBP data for fiscal 2024 indicates that 43 pounds of fentanyl was intercepted at the northern border, compared to 21,000 pounds coming from Mexico.

“We have a lot of work to do to show that even if this is a very small problem, we are reducing it even further,” said Trudeau during a press conference in Brussels.

The involvement of Canadian-based organized crime groups in fentanyl has increased by 42 percent since 2019, according to the Criminal Intelligence Service Canada’s public report for 2024. In total, 235 criminal groups are involved in fentanyl, says the report, with 35 involved in the export of domestically manufactured drugs such as fentanyl and methamphetamine.

Some major fentanyl busts have taken place in recent months, including the RCMP taking down what it says was the “largest” and “most sophisticated superlab in Canada.” The police force said in October the amount of fentanyl and precursors seized could have amounted to more than 95 million doses.

More recently, RCMP officers working with highway patrol in Saskatchewan seized eight kilograms of fentanyl during a Jan. 28 traffic stop. The drugs were hidden under the vehicle’s spare tire.

Federal health authorities say there has been a dramatic increase in opioid-related deaths since tracking began in 2016, with 49,105 deaths reported over the period. There was an average of 21 deaths per day from January to June last year.

By comparison, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported an estimated 74,702 fentanyl deaths in 2023, for an average of 205 deaths a day. The United States’ population size is more than eight times that of Canada.

Public policy related to synthetic opioids was a political issue before Trump’s election, with debates about decriminalization and safer supply. Opposition Conservatives have criticized both approaches as a contributing factor to the opioid crisis.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said in early February he would pass legislation to put fentanyl traffickers behind bars for life if he becomes prime minister. “Making and selling fentanyl is mass murder,” he said.

The issue has not surfaced prominently in the Liberal leadership race, though a lot of focus has been afforded to how to best counter Trump’s tariff threats.

In a stop in Kelowna this week, former central banker Mark Carney said fentanyl is an “absolute crisis in the United States” while categorizing the issue in Canada as a “challenge.”

“It’s a challenge here, but it’s a crisis there,” he said.

“And us doing what we can to help them with that is absolutely appropriate, and of course securing our borders is in our interest as much as it is in their interest,” said Carney.