Canada - Police chiefs want power to seize contraband in the mail

[S.J.B.]

Police chiefs want power to seize contraband in the mail
CBC
August 30th, 2015

Canada's police chiefs want legal authority to seize mail in transit to stem the flow of illicit drugs, fake medicine and weapons through the postal system.

In a recently passed resolution, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police say contraband is being sent through the mail "with impunity" because the law forbids officers from swooping in until a parcel arrives at its destination.

This poses a "significant challenge" for police, who must find "alternative ways to work within or around" the system to apprehend criminals, the chiefs say.

The resolution calls on the government to amend the legislation governing Canada Post to provide police with the ability to obtain a judge's approval to "seize, detain or retain parcels or letters" in the mail stream.

Canada Post delivered more than nine billion parcels and letters to some 15 million addresses in Canada last year. International mail flows through large plants in the Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal areas.

Read the full story here.

 

[blowpipe]

Forgive my ignorance, but I thought that customs could randomly check parcels/mail. I'm a bit confused here, is the article talking about intranational or international mail? I'm far from knowing all the ins and outs of laws, but I thought in Europe customs/police could seize and open any package if they suspected it contained anything malicious; so I assumed it would be about the same in other developed countries (because they're all copycats, no?). I've ordered some legal and quasi-legal things over the mail and have always worried about them being seized for whatever reason.

 

[Negi]

In related news Marc Emery just posted on Facebook the Canada Post guide for dealing with suspected Pot packages (only based on smell, no sign of other profiling).

 

[my3rdeye]

Forgive my ignorance, but I thought that customs could randomly check parcels/mail. I'm a bit confused here, is the article talking about intranational or international mail?.

Customs can do anything they want but now the police want to be able to open domestic mail. And to be able to stop packages in transit when they have info about drugs or grenades in the package.