A woman arriving at Montreal's airport was handed over to Canadian federal police on Thursday after a search of her luggage found cocaine stashed inside Halloween pumpkins.

"The pumpkins seemed heavy, so we decided to run them through an X-ray machine and the drugs were found in bags inside the pumpkins," Canada Border Services Agency spokeswoman Jacqueline Roby told AFP.

In a statement, the agency described the case as an "unusual seizure in this day of Halloween."

"Instead of being filled with candies, three pumpkins carried by a female traveller at Montreal-Trudeau Airport contained nearly two kilograms of suspected cocaine."

The drugs and the suspect were handed over to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which is expected to lay charges.

The woman's nationality was not disclosed.

Since the start of the year, authorities made 173 drug seizures at the Montreal airport, including 10 cocaine seizures for a total of 44 kilograms.