OTTAWA: A Belgian woman has been found guilty of trying to smuggle 2.82 kg of heroin into Canada while flying in to the Edmonton International Airport.
Rosmin Kaneza, 27, was convicted in Court of Queen’s Bench of unlawfully importing heroin into Canada and possession of heroin for the purpose of trafficking.
A pre-sentence report and a psychiatric assessment were ordered by Justice Michelle Crighton and a sentencing hearing date is scheduled to be confirmed on June 19.
Court heard during the three-week trial that Kaneza was flagged by the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) for secondary questioning after an officer noted her passport showed an earlier trip to Montreal and she had an e-ticket for a seven-day trip with a price that he thought was high.
“I had strong concerns about the legitimacy of the traveller’s trip to Canada, meaning what is she going to be doing in Canada and what she could be bringing into Canada,” testified Craig Atherton.
After finishing his dealings with Kaneza, Atherton said he spoke with a second officer about searching all of her luggage and said “we need to be checking everything.”
According to an agreed statement of facts, Kaneza arrived at the Edmonton International Airport about 5:30 p.m. on May 28, 2014, on an Iceland Air flight from Reykjavik.
Her boarding pass indicated she had first flown from Brussels to Copenhagen and then to Reykjavik.
She had a black and red TOSCA backpack in checked luggage and a brown Louis Vuitton handbag as her carry-on.
According to the agreed facts, the CBSA contacted the RCMP after finding the 2.82 kg of heroin wrapped in plastic and covered in brown tape inside of the backpack.
According to police at the time of Kaneza’s arrest, the CBSA officers noticed that once her backpack was emptied, it remained excessively heavy, and they then discovered the backpack had a false compartment.
Kaneza, who pleaded not guilty to the charges and testified in her own defence, claimed a Canadian man she met in Belgium had offered to take to her to Edmonton for a holiday and paid for her flight and she believed he had drugged her the night before and hidden the heroin in her luggage.
The man was subpoenaed as a defence witness, however he did not show up and the judge issued a warrant for his arrest.
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