The Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced on 18 April 2012 the results of Project Celsius, a joint investigation that seized more than 43 tonnes of hashish worth an estimated $860 million.[1][2] The hashish came mostly from Pakistan and was intercepted in Pakistan, Belgium, Italy and Canada after travelling in marine containers toward Montreal and Halifax, Nova Scotia.[1][2]
The investigation began in 2009 and 2010, when officers found drugs hidden in containers at the ports of Halifax and Montreal.[1] The RCMP-led inquiry then ran for about two years with the collaboration of law enforcement authorities in Pakistan, Italy, Belgium and the United States.[1][2] Officers raided the Port of Montreal on 18 April 2012 and arrested nine suspects over a series of hashish shipments totalling 43.3 metric tonnes.[2]
Police said the seizure equalled more than half of all the hashish sent to Canada, or confiscated there, in all of 2009.[1] Officers of the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency later received Quebec Police Awards for the operation.[2]
