Could someone switch your luggage tags at a Canadian airport — and send your bags into a drug-smuggling scheme?

In a tag-switching scheme, a corrupt airport employee with access to baggage-handling areas might remove the legitimate tag from your luggage and place it onto a bag carrying illegal drugs. When it arrives at the destination, criminals will attempt to retrieve it. But if the bag is intercepted by authorities, it will have your information on it, leaving you responsible for its contents.

According to the CTV investigation, the alleged scheme targets routes from Canada to countries with some of the world's harshest drug laws, including jurisdictions where drug trafficking offences can result in execution. In theory, a traveller with no involvement in any criminal activity could find their luggage connected to contraband through no fault of their own.

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What is the legal risk for innocent Canadian travellers?

Canada provides consular protection for its citizens abroad, but those protections have limits when someone becomes involved in a foreign criminal investigation. The Government of Canada maintains travel advisories for destinations around the world, including warnings that drug offences can lead to lengthy prison sentences or even the death penalty. These alerts apply to several countries across Southeast Asia, the Middle East and parts of the Caribbean.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) screens baggage entering Canada, while the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) handles security screening at departure points. But these agencies have limited control over what happens to a bag after it clears a check-in counter and enters the airline's own baggage system; a gap that the reported scheme appears to exploit.

Why airports are vulnerable to this kind of fraud

Canada's major airports handle tens of millions of passengers annually. Pearson International Airport in Toronto alone processed more than 46 million passengers in 2024.

Moving that many bags requires a complex network of airline employees, baggage handlers, contractors and even third-party service providers, creating multiple access points throughout the system.

While airport security is heavily focused on preventing prohibited items from entering aircraft cabins, checked baggage follows a different path. Along the way, bags may pass through the hands of numerous workers whose roles, employers and oversight structures vary.

What Canadian travellers can do right now

There is no sure-fire way to prevent a determined criminal from accessing checked baggage at a busy international airport. However, you can take steps to reduce your exposure and create a record if something goes wrong.

One of the simplest ways is to document exactly what is in your luggage before you check it in. If authorities ever question the contents of your bag, having evidence of what you packed could become important.

Consider taking the following steps before your next trip:

• Photograph or record a video of your packed luggage before you leave home, ideally with a timestamp.
• Use a TSA-approved luggage lock to make unauthorized access more difficult and to help identify potential tampering.
• Check the Global Affairs Canada travel advisory for your destination before every trip, paying particular attention to local drug laws and penalties.
• If your baggage fails to arrive, file a missing baggage report with the airline immediately and request written confirmation.
• If you discover items in your luggage that you did not pack, avoid handling them further and contact the nearest Canadian consulate as soon as possible.
• Consider shipping high-value items or critical medications separately rather than checking them.

Most Canadians don’t think twice about what happens to their luggage after it's checked in. But as this story shows, your luggage could end up in the wrong hands. Thankfully, a few simple precautions, combined with a clear understanding of the laws at your destination, could help protect you if something goes wrong.