$1M in drugs, rifle scooped up by cops in Ontario bust; two western Canadians charged

An Edmonton man and a B.C. woman face numerous weapons and drug trafficking charges after police seized more than $1 million in cocaine, fentanyl and other drugs during a search of a home in northwestern Ontario.

A rifle and more than $4,000 in cash were also recovered by police who executed a search warrant on Nov. 19 at a Kenora home, near the Manitoba border.

Ontario Provincial Police officers with the Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau launched an investigation in October into “the trafficking of fentanyl, crystal methamphetamine, hydromorphone and cocaine in Kenora and the surrounding area,” police said in a news release on Tuesday.

The investigation led police to the Kenora home, which had been rented on a short-term basis by one of the subjects of the police probe, and the arrest of two people last week.

Items seized in the raid included:

• approximately 962 grams of suspected fentanyl
• approximately 1.2 kilograms of suspected crystal methamphetamine
• approximately 287 grams of suspected cocaine
• approximately 968 hydromorphone tablets (8 mg)
• approximately three grams of crack cocaine
• one rifle
• two digital scales
• two cellular devices
• $4,060 in Canadian currency

The estimated street value of the drugs seized is $1,072,000, police said.

Dawson Cameron, 25, of Edmonton, and Megan Dent, 20, of Westbank, B.C., are each charged with:

• possession of proceeds obtained by crime over $5,000
• unauthorized possession of a firearm
• careless storage of a firearm
• possession for the purpose of trafficking — hydromorphone
• possession for the purpose of trafficking — cocaine
• possession for the purpose of trafficking — crystal methamphetamine
• possession for the purpose of trafficking — fentanyl

Both were remanded into custody and made first appearances in Kenora court last week.

(Cover photo: Ontario Provincial Police)