MONTREAL - The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have seized 43.3 metric tonnes of hashish headed for the Port of Montreal, with an estimated value of $860 million.

That's the equivalent of 43 million grams -- enough hashish to drug every single person in Canada, more than once.

The investigation, dubbed 'Celsius,' began in 2010, when authorities found drugs in containers at the Montreal and Halifax ports. Drug shipments were tracked for two years prior to Wednesday's bust.

Eight people were arrested in Montreal.

Three of those worked for private companies at the Port of Montreal and the rest are said to have links to the infamous West End Gang. A ninth suspect is being sought.

They will face charges of conspiracy, importation and possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking.

The investigation revealed that the criminal organization involved in supplied drugs from the Middle East, mainly in Pakistan.

None of the drugs made it to Montreal, and were intercepted by authorities in Europe and Pakistan beforehand.

"The (drugs) were hidden within different parts of garments, and or food products, coffee slabs or whatever," said RCMP Staff Sgt. Andre Potvin.

Some containers were seized in Pakistan, while others were intercepted en route, including in Italy and Belgium.

"We actually removed the drugs before they got to Montreal, and then we just let the container be transited through, unloaded off the ship, placed in to the yards and followed how these people were getting it through... outside the parameters of the Port of Montreal," explained Potvin.

Background checks not a necessity

Of the 2,500 people who work at the Port of Montreal, only 200 are directly employed by the Port, and therefore, not everyone is subject to a background check.

"There are a lot of people - truckers, longshoremen, people from customs – there are a whole bunch of people," said Jean-Luc Bedard, vice-president of operations at the Port of Montreal.

Drug raids in 1994

This is not the first time the Port of Montreal has been at the centre of a seizure of hash linked to the West Eng gang.

In 1994, 26 tonnes of hash was seized and leaders of the gang were arrested, resulting in a brief period where the street value increased due to a lack of supply.

A blow to gangs

The Mounties said major drug busts hurt organized crime groups.

"All the profits that would have been generated to organized crime are not getting into their pockets," said Potvin

With a report from The Canadian Press.