Hard drugs, cellphones part of major seizure at Nova Scotia's Springhill Institution: CSC

A row of isolation cells is pictured at the Springhill Institution, a Canadian federal corrections facility located in the town of Springhill, N.S. (Courtesy: Office of the Correctional Investigator)

Correctional staff at a Maritime federal prison have made yet another major seizure of illicit drugs and contraband.

This latest haul has an estimated institutional value of $290,000.

In a news release Tuesday, the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) said the discovery was made Sept. 2 at the Springhill Institution in Springhill, N.S.

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Included in the seizure was THC, hashish, shatter, methamphetamine, cellphones and accessories.

Very little else was released by the correctional service including how the drugs and contraband arrived at the institution and whether any arrests have been made.

The latest high-value seizure at the federal medium-security facility in Nova Scotia isn’t the first major find for the CSC at Springhill this year.

On May 14, the CSC said staff seized $475,000 in contraband involving two different methods of smuggling, including contraband dropped by a drone.

The second part of that seizure involved a person allegedly trying to smuggle drugs into the nearly 50-year-old prison.

The drone was seen flying in the area in the early morning hours of May 14. A package was later found and turned over to RCMP by correctional staff.

CSC said both smuggling attempts involved only the potent drug, crystal methamphetamine.

The $475,000 seizure was not a record at the Springhill Institute.

On Aug. 11, 2022, Springhill staff found packages containing contraband on the perimeter of the prison worth an estimated institutional value of $750,000.

The items seized then included:

• 244 grams of hash
• 485 grams of shatter (cannabis concentrate)
• 241 grams of crystal methamphetamine
• 48 heroin pills
• 352 acetyl-fentanyl pills
• 146 grams of loose tobacco
• two bales of tobacco
• two cellphones
• six SIM cards
• one charging block

At the time, CSC did not share with the public details of how they thought that contraband wound up on the perimeter.

Corrections did eventually tell CTV Atlantic it was from a suspected drone drop.

For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page.