The OPP’s Cannabis Enforcement Team (PJFCET) has been busy tackling illegal cannabis production, sale and distribution enterprises across Ontario.
The team is responsible for enforcing the cannabis laws and investigating criminal enterprises that exploit or abuse the legal cannabis market and consists of members from: OPP, Kingston Police Service, Hamilton Police Service, Barrie Police Service, Waterloo Regional Police Service, Sarnia Police Service, Windsor Police Service, London Police Service, and Niagara Regional Police Service.
In the past two years, the team has executed 152 warrants, seized over 180,000 cannabis plants, thousands of pounds of dried cannabis, edibles and concentrates and other illicit drugs, $3.2 million Canadian currency and over $1.8 million in proceeds from crime such as property, vehicles and firearms.
The PJFCET has laid 1,176 federal Cannabis Act and Criminal Code charges.
“The PJFCET’s initial focus was on storefronts and then shifted to the online space. Now, we are targeting the illegal cannabis sites where we see the magnitude of the scope of these illegal operations. They are not small operations growing for personal use. They are lucrative criminal networks funding other criminality. This is organized crime at its highest level,” explains Detective Inspector Jim Walker, OPP Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau, Provincial Joint Forces Cannabis Enforcement Team.
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Over the last two years OPP PJFCET has closed 78 illegal cannabis storefronts, seized +$178 million in drugs, +180,000 cannabis plants and laid 1,176 charges. This is a rare behind-the-scenes look inside a large-scale illegal facility. More at OPP News: https://t.co/mFL0XnkvMu pic.twitter.com/7FyGu0JjH2
— Ontario Provincial Police (@OPP_News) January 7, 2021