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Ontario RCMP announced Thursday they have charged six people and destroyed nearly 17,000 cannabis plants across three large-scale illegal grow sites in the province, part of a “complex illicit cannabis production and distribution network.”
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Police say an investigation began in the summer of 2022 after the Ontario Provincial Police referred the matter to the Mounties.
The RCMP estimates the three grow sites could have an annual production value of more than $16 million, and each of the sites was staffed with full-time, live-in workers who did not have legal status to grow cannabis in Canada.
Mounties say a criminal network exported the illicit cannabis to the United States and Hong Kong, with further plans to distribute it to Europe.
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They say the network was also linked to two other illicit cannabis production sites in Ontario that were dismantled by the OPP and Toronto Police.
The RCMP alleges millions of dollars in profits from the cannabis ring were laundered through the Canadian banking system by a “sophisticated identity fraud scheme.”
Police also allege the suspects applied for Health Canada authorizations to produce medicinal cannabis using the identity of people who were not aware of the applications.
Five people are facing a rash of charges related to the unlawful cultivation of cannabis and a conspiracy to export it, while a sixth person was charged with identity theft and related offences.
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