Nov 12, 2026
Leila Drakes, 77, flew to Barbados to join her brother for a relaxing holiday. Instead, the wheelchair user got a call saying the local drug squad was looking for her. Her bag tag had turned up on a suitcase full of cannabis.
Drakes was never charged for the error and WestJet offered to compensate her with a $300 flight credit for the hassle.
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She’s one of at least three Toronto women in their 60s or 70s caught in an alleged bag-tag switching scheme at Toronto Pearson International Airport, and now 11 travellers are launching legal action. If you’re someone who almost always checks a bag when travelling, you’re probably now wondering, if your name ends up on someone else’s drugs, what on earth do you do and what are you actually on the hook for?
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How does the Pearson bag-tag scheme work?
According to a CTV News W5 investigation, the bag-tag scheme involves a corrupt airport worker sneaking a suitcase of drugs into the airport. The worker then removes the tag from an innocent passenger’s checked bag and attaches it to the drug-filled suitcase. If that suitcase gets through security, someone working with the smugglers collects it at the destination airport. If customs does find the drugs, the pickup never happens, and the passenger whose name is on the tag has to explain why it’s attached to a bag they claim is not theirs and they have never seen.
Global Affairs Canada (GAC), the federal department that issues travel advisories, now warns travellers that a real tag can be moved onto a different bag holding drugs, and that you may not find out until you reach the customs exit.
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What did victims lose, and what were they offered?
Grace Merano was accused of importing 24 kilograms of methamphetamine. She spent 24 nights in a Philippine jail, sharing a cell about three by five metres with three other people. She says Cathay Pacific Airways offered her about $22,000 for the mix up, roughly half of what the ordeal cost her in legal fees and disrupted travel plans.
Winnipeg’s Jan Baumann and Charlene Ranadheera had their tags switched onto luggage holding 33 kilograms of marijuana. They were handcuffed and held at Pearson for 12 hours, and ultimately released without charges. Ranadheera says Air Canada offered them about $2,000, which they declined.
Toronto lawyer Paul Miller represents the 11 plaintiffs. Miller has practised personal injury law for 25 years and says he had never heard stories like these. “This was right out of a James Bond type of movie,” he told W5. His clients are seeking between $100,000 and $1 million in each case.
Who is responsible when your bag tag is switched?
At an airport the size of Pearson International Airport, hundreds of organizations employ thousands of workers, and many of them are subcontracted. Miller says that makes it hard to pin down fault in cases like these. He plans to sue several parties, including the airline, Transport Canada and the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA), which runs Pearson. He argues that the airline is ultimately responsible because it took custody of his clients’ bags.
The organizations involved each point to others:
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- Air Canada says liability depends on the circumstances, the law and each party’s role
- The GTAA says it doesn’t direct or oversee baggage security
- The Canada Border Services Agency says it’s working with Transport Canada and the GTAA to tighten security.
Until a court rules or the parties settle, victims must carry the costs themselves.
Why the costs land on you first
If you’re arrested abroad, the help you can expect from Ottawa is limited. Canadian consular officials can help you reach family members and give you a list of local lawyers, but they can’t pay your legal fees. In some countries, drug fines can be imposed in the tens of thousands of dollars and you won’t be allowed to leave until the fine is paid.
For a retiree on a fixed income, a sudden legal bill of that size could mean withdrawing from a registered retirement income fund (RRIF). And even if you ultimately get it back, that money is taxed as income in the year you take it out.
What to do now
Of the poll respondents who had seen coverage of tag switching, 44% say they’ve changed how they travel, for example by keeping their luggage receipt or packing a tracker. GAC recommends these precautions:
- Remove old airline tags and barcodes before you pack
- Photograph or video your bag and its attached tag at the check-in counter, with the tag number visible, and note the weight on the scale
- Put an electronic tracker inside your suitcase
- Keep your baggage receipt until you’re home
- On arrival, confirm the tag number on your bag matches your receipt before you head to customs
- If the numbers don’t match, stay in the baggage area, report it to the airline’s baggage office and keep all your evidence
- If you’re detained, ask local authorities to notify Canadian consular officials, because they aren’t required to unless you ask
Documentation helps, but it doesn’t completely shield from risk. Before your next international trip, double check with your insurer whether your policy covers legal help abroad, and keep receipts for every cost if something goes wrong.
Ottawa’s advice is blunt about the limits of its help: officials “can’t get you out of prison” or pay your legal fees.
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Leslie Kennedy served as an editor at Thomson Reuters and for Star Media Group, followed by a number of years as a writer and editor and content manager in marketing communications, before returning to her editorial roots. She is a graduate of Humber College’s post-graduate journalism program and has been a professional writer and editor ever since.
