Photo of the Brinston operation supplied by OPP.
BRINSTON — Police seized thousands of cannabis plants during separate raids in rural and small-town Eastern Ontario last month, charging a number of mostly middle-aged people from the greater Toronto area and beyond in the process.
Over 1,900 cannabis plants with an estimated street value of $1.9 million were seized during a July 13 police raid at a Glen Stewart Rd. property in South Dundas.
Police arrested two individuals from southern Ontario as a result of the investigation.
Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry OPP report that Georgetown residents Longxing Chen, 65, and Xinqiang Chen, 43, are charged with cultivating, propagating or harvesting illicit cannabis, under the Cannabis Act.
The accused were released to appear Sept. 9 in Cornwall court.
On July 14 at a Dale Rd. property in Port Hope, the OPP Provincial Joint Forces Cannabis Team and other agencies seized approximately 3,850 marijuana plants worth an estimated $3.85 million. Also seized was over 800 lbs of processed pot, according to police.
In connection with this action, police say they arrested and charged with Cannabis Act offences:
Xiu Lin (age 61) of Scarborough; Yu Me Chen (age 55) of Markham; Lin Xiu Zhen (age 50) of Markham; Yan Fang Yang (age 48) of Markham; Yue Yzng Guan (age 67) of no fixed address; Xiu Ya Lin (age 42) of Markham; Jiao Hua Peng (age 64) of no fixed address; Yu Shi Gao (age 32 years) of Scarborough; Xue Jing Gao (age 62) of no fixed address; Yo Xin Chen (age 53) of Whitby.
Those individuals are due Aug. 25 in Cobourg court.
On July 21 in Kawartha Lakes, police raided a Portage Rd. residence in Kirkfield, seizing 6,152 cannabis plants in various stages of growth. The seizure was the equivalent of four full dump trucks and would have fetched $6.152 million on the street, according to police.
The warrant also resulted in the seizure of 100 pounds of cannabis bud in the drying stage with an estimated street value of $225,500, 329 pounds of dry cannabis bud with an estimated street value of $1,49 million, and 2.3 pounds of cannabis resin valued at an estimated $20,840.
The total estimated street value of all cannabis items seized is approximately $7.9 million.
A skid steer, two fork lifts and Health Canada Licences were also seized as part of the investigation.
Consequently charged under the Cannabis Act were:
Phillip Huy Quoc Chen, 54 years of age, of Kirkfield; Van Phuong Dao, 43 years of age, of Toronto; Paul Gilbert, 63 years of age, of Kirkfield; Vinh Luu, 51 years of age, of Calgary, Alta.; Chinh Nghia Nguyen, 54 years of age, of St-Leonard, Que.; Kien Quoc Tran, 61 years of age, of Calgary.; Yen Ngoc Vu, 56 years of age, of North York.
They’re due to appear Sept. 16 in Lindsay court.
