Law enforcement officials are touting a huge heroin seizure in the Toronto area as one of the largest in Canadian history.

During searches carried out last week, police seized more than 100 kilograms of high-grade heroin and about $650,000 in cash, they said Tuesday at a news conference.

"Yes, this is a major amount of heroin being taken out of circulation, but there are other individuals there who certainly have the capacity to fill the gap," RCMP Supt. Ron Allen told reporters.

An alert Canadian Border Services Agency guard found something odd about a pallet and its load of household goods from Pakistan that had arrived at Toronto's Pearson International Airport.

Upon breaking apart the pallet, officials discovered compartments where heroin was hidden, about eight kilograms.

That discovery led to the creation of Project Oboard. An newly-created entity called the Control Delivery Team, designed to track drug shipments to their buyers, then picked up the investigation.

That team's work led to a number of other seizures in the Greater Toronto Area, leading to another 108 kg of heroin being confiscated from machine parts stored in a Brampton warehouse.

The heroin is believed to have originated in Afghanistan. Officials say they don't know the final destination for the drugs, noting that Toronto has become a major transit point in the global narcotics trade.

Three men are facing an array of drug-related charges: Brothers Ali and Nazma Murtaza, 35 and 34 respectively, and Al Saadat, 50, of Toronto.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Dana Levenson and files from The Canadian Press