Sûreté du Québec’s Contraband Investigations Division has seized tens of thousands of cannabis plants and a large quantity of dried cannabis and cannabis products, as well as millions in cash in a series of raids this year.

Eight arrests were announced on September 27 in connection with the cases, with three other arrests expected. 

The seizures and arrests are the result of multiple searches that so far have yielded 56,650 cannabis plants, nearly 2.5 tonnes of bulk cannabis, ready for sale, 131 grams of hashish and 10 kg of edible cannabis products. 

Police also seized more than $275,000 in cash, production equipment with a value of more than $2.5 million, along with six properties as criminal property, valued at more than $2.5 million. 

Police say the investigation “sheds light” on what they call a structured cannabis production network that uses registration certificates “granted by Health Canada to give an appearance of legitimacy to their large-scale distribution and trafficking activities.” (translated). 

Sûreté du Québec operated through the province’s ACCES Cannabis program that targets both indoor and outdoor cannabis producers. 

On September 15, Sûreté du Québec, along with the RCMP, announced it had dismantled several outdoor production sites for illegal cannabis.  Arrests were also made in connection with these operations, and others were said to be expected.

These seizures are in addition to other seizures that began as early as June of this year. Local media accompanied at least one raid of an outdoor farm earlier this month. 

These seizures of plants will be added to the provisional results of the operations which began last June. During this season, thousands of illegal cannabis plants were seized throughout Quebec, tickets relating to the Cannabis Control Act were issued, and arrests were made under the Cannabis Act.

Police officers from the MRC de La Jacques-Cartier division in Quebec also carried out a cannabis search on September 20. Officers arrested one and seized five cannabis plants, approximately 100g of dried cannabis along with 9 firearms, including 1 prohibited. The man faces criminal charges related to cannabis production.

In an unrelated case, a sergeant with Sûreté du Québec is currently under investigation relating to alleged perjury in a case where the sergeant appears to have misled the court about efforts to verify an ACMPR authorization for cannabis for medical purposes.

Images via soreltracy.com

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