Twenty-four people, including a Windsor man, face charges after the Ontario Provincial Police dismantled an illegal cannabis grow operation near Belleville.
The OPP Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau, Tyendinaga Police Service, and the Canada Border Services Agency executed search warrants for non-Indigenous organized criminal networks on the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory on September 23 and September 24.
During that operation, police dismantled four illicit cannabis production sites, seizing 72,000 cannabis plants.
Then, between October 1 and October 7, police searched six other locations within the territory and seized another 46,700 cannabis plants, 4 lbs of dried cannabis, THC extract, 3.7 million contraband cigarettes, 35,600 kgs of fine cut contraband tobacco, and equipment.
"The second phase of enforcement has concluded, further exposing the extent to which non-community members have exploited our land for profit," said Tyendinaga Police Service Acting Sergeant Chris Brinklow. "The enforcement between September 24 and October 7 resulted in the seizure of more than 118,000 illicit cannabis plants valued at more than $200-million from numerous illegal production sites in our community. A total of 19 non-community members have been charged."
The contraband cigarettes, dried tobacco, and commercial-level cigarette production equipment are worth another $9.8 million.
Police laid a total of 53 charges, including one count of possession of cannabis for the purpose of selling, against 27-year-old Elijah McPherson of Windsor.
McPherson has a court date in Belleville on December 1.
Six people from the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory face charges, along with five from Toronto, and seven with no fixed address. The other suspects are from Belleville, Mississauga, Maple, Hamilton, and Duncan, B.C.
