"Resourceful" Canadians get caught with fake COVID-19 tests
The Canada Border Services Agency continues to arrest travellers arriving in the country with fake documents.
CBSA spokesman Louis-Carl Brissette Lesage said officers intercepted 10 suspected fraudulent documents with negative coronavirus tests at Canadian airports between January 7 and March 24 this year.
Meanwhile, between February 15 and March 24, ground entry officers detected at least 20 fraudulent documents.
"All travellers arriving in Canada are required by local law to answer all questions honestly," stressed Brisset Lesage. — It is a serious offence to provide false information to a Canadian government official upon entering the country or to make false attempts at fraud, and can result in penalties and/or criminal prosecution.
In January, the federal government ordered all travelers returning to Canada by plane from abroad to present negative COVID-19 test results before boarding.
Every traveler over the age of five must show a negative test result 72 hours before flight departure. Last month, similar requirements were introduced for land border crossings.
Recent arrests by police have shed light on some of these incidents at Toronto Pearson International Airport. According to police, one of them occurred on the afternoon of March 21. That's when a CBSA employee came across a negative test for COVID-19, which turned out to be bogus when an inspection was conducted.
It was reviewed by public health officials, and eventually a 45-year-old Edmonton resident was arrested and charged with using a fake document. A similar incident occurred on the evening of February 8. At that time, a 29-year-old man from Stratford, Ontario, was arrested on the same charge.
The CBSA says failure to comply with current border restrictions could result in jail for up to six months and/or a fine of up to $750,000 Canadian dollars.
In addition, the agency says a person who causes a risk of imminent death or serious bodily injury to another person in a willful or reckless violation of the federal quarantine law could be sentenced to a fine of up to CAD$1 million, imprisonment for up to three years, or both.
