The result was 2,451 narcotic seizures and 378 currency seizures at entry points alone.
The Intelligence Division of the CBSA has the mandate to identify the threats and to communicate, in due time, strategic operational and tactical intelligence in order to support the activities of CBSA and Citizenship and Immigration Canada. We apply these principles with our law enforcement partners, that is to say the Sûreté du Québec, the RCMP, and all of the other law enforcement agencies in Quebec.
Our national priorities are terrorism, illegal immigration, narcotics, money laundering, and strategic exports. These are the targets that we have.
The Intelligence Division is divided by mode of transportation, that is land, marine and airport. Within these teams we assign intelligence officers to different joint projects and task forces.
The different joint forces operations dedicated to fight organized crime which we contribute to are: the Integrated Border Enforcement Team at Valleyfield, Lacolle and Stanstead; the National Port Enforcement Team—Port of Montreal; a Combined Forces Special Investigation Unit, the UMECO; the Integrated Proceeds of Crime Unit, the IPOC; the Federal Airport Investigation Unit, the SEFA—Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau; the Armed Munitions and Explosives Joint Task Force with the Sûreté du Québec and other police forces—we are part of this team; liaison with different law enforcement partners; and liaison with the RCMP drug section.
During the course of 2008-2009, the Intelligence Division has also assisted operations dealing with narcotics and money laundering by collecting, analyzing and disseminating intelligence to the front-line officers. Our primary mandate is to give front-line officers information so that they can intercept goods at the ports of entry.
We assign intelligence officers to different projects who have the knowledge of international transportation, port and airport operations and border operations. The experience and knowledge of the intelligence officers have contributed to furthering the investigations and the fight against organized crime.