The case of Fatima Qurban-Ali, a 30-year-old Canadian sentenced recently in New Zealand for attempting to import nearly 10 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine on a flight from Vancouver — coerced at gunpoint by a transnational drug syndicate, the court heard — has illuminated a troubling global pattern.

Across a series of recent prosecutions, New Zealand Customs records and sentencing reports show that Canada — particularly Vancouver's port and airport — has become a major node in the production and shipment of synthetic narcotics by networks supplied through China-based syndicates and Mexican cartels.

Qurban-Ali, an immigrant from Afghanistan whose brother worked as a translator for U.S. and New Zealand forces, arrived in Auckland from Vancouver on December 8, 2024, carrying a red duffel bag filled with packages wrapped in festive paper. Inside, Customs officers found 9.9 kilograms of methamphetamine with an 80 percent purity — a haul valued at roughly NZ$2.9 million.

At her sentencing in Manukau District Court, the judge accepted that Qurban-Ali had acted under threat of violence. Evidence showed she had been lured under false pretences — told she would provide "bottle service" for wealthy clients at a private event similar to ones she'd worked in Vancouver — only to be threatened at gunpoint when she tried to back out.

Her lawyer said Qurban-Ali, an honours graduate who had worked with Indigenous communities in Canada, was "extremely susceptible and vulnerable" to manipulation. Her brother, an interpreter for the U.S. military who once assisted New Zealand forces in Afghanistan, has been missing since 2021.

The judge agreed her case was consistent with coercive recruitment — "how international syndicates tend to obtain their couriers and custodians" — and imposed a three-year, two-month sentence. But as New Zealand's Stuff reported, her story was part of a larger trend. Just thirty minutes earlier, another Canadian, David Blanchard, was convicted for smuggling a similar quantity of methamphetamine — his crime driven by addiction and the promise of quick money.