Four Londoners are among five people facing charges after police say they busted an illegal cannabis distribution network in Southwestern Ontario, seizing nearly $1-million worth of pot products and other drugs.
Four Londoners and a Woodstock resident face charges after police say they busted an illegal cannabis distribution network in Southwestern Ontario, seizing nearly $1-million worth of pot products and other drugs.
The OPP-led cannabis enforcement team launched a six-month investigation in May after London police provided the joint forces unit with information, the OPP said Thursday.
Investigators carried out four searches – three in London, one in Woodstock – on Nov. 9 and seized 110 kilograms of cannabis, more than 1,000 pre-rolled joints, thousands of pot- and magic mushroom-infused edibles, 16 ounces of cocaine and hundreds of prescription pills, said the OPP, who pegged the street value of the drugs at $876,895.
“We believe what was seized here, it was going to be sold online,” OPP Det.-Const. Sarah Bamford said.
Established in 2018, the cannabis enforcement team – made up of police officers from nearly a dozen forces across Ontario – has shifted its focus from illegal brick-and-mortar pot shops.
“Over the years, we were able to get rid of most of these storefronts and we found they were going to online,” Bamford said.
Although Canada legalized recreational cannabis in 2018 – becoming the second country in the world to do so at the time – only government-approved retail stores are allowed to sell products sourced through the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS), the government-run wholesaler and online delivery service.
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ANALYSIS: $32M bust shows police shifting focus to illegal pot deliveries
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Four charged after $5M London pot bust, police say
The black market once supplied the bulk of pot products sold in Ontario even after legalization, but that share has been reduced significantly by the nearly 1,500 cannabis retail stores now operating in the province. Legal channels made up 59 per cent of cannabis sales in Ontario, according to the most recent OCS statistics.
In last week’s raids, which also led to the seizure of $1-million in cash, two gold Rolex watches, three vehicles, a sawed-off shotgun and ammunition, Bamford said some of the edibles had packaging that resembled candy.
“That’s a concern that we have for a lot of this black-market cannabis: It’s very appealing to young children,” she said. “If you see regular cannabis products that are purchased from the Ontario Cannabis Store, the packaging is very plain . . . it has the proper seals on it.”
Three London men and a London woman, ages 28 to 55, and a Woodstock man, 31, face a combined 25 charges including drug possession for the purpose of trafficking, possession of property obtained by crime valued at more than $5,000 and unauthorized possession of a firearm. All of the accused have been released from custody and are scheduled to appear in court in January.
Bamford alleges organized crime groups often are involved in the illicit cannabis industry and frequently traffic other drugs along with pot.
Last year, joined London police and OPP investigation into an alleged cannabis trafficking network led to charges against 21 people and the seizure of $32 million worth of drugs. Investigators alleged a sophisticated criminal organization was operating a pot delivery service in four cities — London, Kitchener, Hamilton and Toronto — and involved in exporting cannabis products globally, police said at the time.