Laval police seized $8 million worth of contraband cannabis and drug production equipment, earlier in December, in a drug bust on two plantation sites located north of Montreal. The crackdown led to the arrest of three men on Leman Boulevard in the Duvernay district, who were released on the condition that they appear in court at a later date.

The operation took place following a tip, lasted two days, and was carried out through a collaboration of multiple squads. In addition, the police referred to the operation as an “historic dismantling of cannabis production.”

“Although one of the two addresses had a production permit from Health Canada, the investigation was able to establish that the parameters of this permit were not respected and that the production greatly exceeded the number of plants allocated by the authorities,” reads the police statement. “Search warrants were therefore obtained for two locations and one vehicle.”

As a result of the drug bust, police seized a total of 2,271 cannabis plants, nearly 70 kilograms of cannabis resin and over 1,300 kilograms of dried cannabis. In addition, $500,000 of production equipment was seized, bringing the net worth of the bust to $8 million.

The police investigation was conducted as part of the ACCES Cannabis program, which was implemented in the fall of 2018 by the Quebec government and coordinated by the Ministry of Public Security. Specifically, the program aims at intensifying the crackdown on the supply of illicit cannabis in order to decrease its accessibility on the Quebec market, particularly among youth.