{"id":8363,"date":"2025-02-25T16:06:30","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T20:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=8363"},"modified":"2025-02-26T14:00:57","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T18:00:57","slug":"rcmp-charge-21-people-in-drug-raids-in-southwestern-nova-scotia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2025\/02\/25\/rcmp-charge-21-people-in-drug-raids-in-southwestern-nova-scotia\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Queens County residents among 21 charged in drug raids in southwestern Nova Scotia"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_8364\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8364\" class=\"size-large wp-image-8364\" src=\"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/products-seized-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/products-seized-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/products-seized-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/products-seized-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/products-seized-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-8364\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Some of the drugs seized in RCMP raids in southwestern Nova Scotia earlier in February. (RCMP Nova Scotia)<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>UPDATED Feb. 25 at 5:20 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">RCMP have charged 21 people, including three from Queens County, with more than 50 offences after raids on Mi&#8217;kmaw-owned cannabis businesses in Queens, Kings, Lunenburg and Annapolis counties.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Southwest Nova RCMP called the operation Project Highfield. It began in October 2024 and involved 13 dispensaries throughout southwestern Nova Scotia.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">RCMP said Tuesday it involved officers from various units, as well as police services in Kentville, Bridgewater and Annapolis.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Police raided the retailers between Feb. 4 and 13. Two of those were on the Wildcat and Ponhook reserves of the Acadia First Nation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">RCMP held a news conference in New Minas on Tuesday afternoon to announce the charges and items seized.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>They conducted raids on dispensaries on- and off-reserve, Supt. Jason Popik of Southwest Nova RCMP told QCCR on Tuesday, including in Acadia, Glooscap and Annapolis Valley First Nations.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Police seized:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">141.4 kg of dried cannabis<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">189.29 kg of cannabis edibles<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">46 kg of liquid cannabis<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">23.4 kg of hashish<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">9.5 kg of psilocybin, or magic mushrooms<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">958 cartons of unstamped tobacco<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">18 firearms (17 long guns and a handgun)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">$16,143.14 in cash<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">3 ATMs<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">7 shed-like structures<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Supt. Popik told QCCR in an interview on Tuesday that organized crime is using indigenous communities to undercut the legal cannabis market, with unregulated product.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cI see them infiltrating the legal cannabis market and they\u2019re really exploiting the indigenous communities,&#8221; he said. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8220;They\u2019re trying to utilize the treaties to find a rational way for them to sell their drugs. And they\u2019re doing it through the people running the different dispensaries. Organized crime will exploit any opportunity they have. &#8230; They\u2019re making a lot of money, the dispensaries are the ones taking the risk and the dispensary owners are the ones being arrested.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Supt. Popik said the wholesale value of all the drugs seized is about $1.25 million, while the street or retail value is between $2.5 and $3 million.<\/p>\n<p>The Micmac Rights Association is protesting the RCMP action. Many of those charged belong to the organization.<\/p>\n<p>The group says Mi&#8217;kmaw have a right under the Peace and Friendship Treaty of 1752 to sell cannabis at truckhouses on reserve.<\/p>\n<p>They say officers desecrated sacred objects, destroyed personal property and traumatized Mi&#8217;kmaw men, women and children. The group plans a protest on the Angus L. Macdonald bridge in Halifax on March 10. On June 21, a 15-year-old boy will lead a 111-kilometre march from Annapolis Valley First Nation to the Dartmouth RCMP headquarters.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Twenty-one people are facing 52 charges under the Cannabis Act, Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, the Excise Act and the Criminal Code, including:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Possession of cannabis for the purpose of selling<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Unauthorized sale of cannabis<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Possession for the purpose of trafficking (psilocybin)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Possession of unstamped tobacco<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Possession of unstamped cannabis<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Careless use of a firearm<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Possession of prohibited or restricted firearm with ammunition<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Service Nova Scotia&#8217;s alcohol, gaming, fuel and tobacco division, and the federal Public Prosecution Service, also assisted in the investigation, RCMP said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Those charged will begin to appear in court in June, RCMP say. They say their investigation is ongoing and more arrests are expected.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Email: <a href=\"mailto:rickconradqccr@gmail.com\">rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Listen to the audio version of this story below<\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-8363-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/newdrugraidfeb2625.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/newdrugraidfeb2625.mp3\">https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/newdrugraidfeb2625.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UPDATED Feb. 25 at 5:20 p.m. RCMP have charged 21 people, including three from Queens County, with more than 50 offences after raids on Mi&#8217;kmaw-owned cannabis businesses in Queens, Kings, Lunenburg and Annapolis counties. Southwest Nova RCMP called the operation Project Highfield. It began in October 2024 and involved 13 dispensaries throughout southwestern Nova Scotia. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[144,2922,1682,2920,2415,2926,2925,2921,2924,49,94,2923,2195],"class_list":["post-8363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-cannabis","tag-cannabis-storefront","tag-crime","tag-drug-raids","tag-drugs","tag-firearms","tag-hash","tag-illegal-cannabis","tag-project-highfield","tag-queens-county","tag-rcmp","tag-southwest-nova-scotia","tag-southwestern-nova-scotia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8363"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8380,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8363\/revisions\/8380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}