Ontario Provincial Police seize 20,000 cannabis plants near Brechin
Ontario Provincial Police called it the province’s largest marijuana bust when they seized about 20,000 plants from a farm near Brechin in late September 2001, loaded the crop into 50 cube vans, and later buried it at the Orillia landfill after deciding they could not incinerate the volume.
Ontario Provincial Police seized about 20,000 high-quality marijuana plants from a farm near Brechin,
Ontario, in what the National Post reported as the province’s largest pot bust.[1]Officers loaded
the plants into 50 cube vans and initially told reporters the crop would go to an incinerator.[1]
Disposal at Orillia
Sergeant Rick Barnum of the OPP drug section said burning was impossible because of the volume, so
police dug a pit at the Orillia city dump and covered the plants with compost and garbage.[1]Onlookers who saw the convoy guessed cannabis was being buried; Utro.ru reported that on the first
night about 35 people came with bags, and that crowds grew on following nights before police
patrolled the site and arrested six people for theft and possession.[1][2]
Value and context
The Post said the seizure was worth at least $20 million on the street.[1]The farm raid came
after a Crime Stoppers tip and an OPP helicopter spotting three men harvesting plants at a property
south of Orillia.[1] The opened sources describe the Brechin farm seizure and the Orillia burial
as one enforcement episode rather than separate cases.
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
The National Post reported at least $20 million in street value; that is a police estimate, not a counted sale price.
Three men from Scarborough were arrested at the farm according to the truncated mapinc excerpt; the opened sources do not name them or report charges at the farm raid separately from six people later arrested for digging up buried plants in Orillia.
Police told the Post they had planned to burn the plants but buried them instead; trespassers dug up much of the load before six arrests at the dump.
Granby police raided an apartment on rue Neil on 10 November 2026 without making any arrests, following an investigation opened in August into suspected cannabis sales. Officers seized more than 100 grams of dried cannabis, THC concentrate and edibles alongside suspected methamphetamine, psilocybin, weapons and trafficking equipment, and said charges could follow.
City police in Saint-Jérôme executed two search warrants on the morning of 9 November 2026 in the Lafontaine sector, targeting a 59-year-old man in an investigation into suspected cocaine trafficking and illicit cannabis distribution. About ten officers took part and the operation was still under way, with the seizure tally and any charges to follow.
Sûreté du Québec officers searched a home on rue Guindon in Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon on 5 November 2026 and seized more than two kilos of cannabis, four long guns and an electroshock weapon. The force said the search followed information from the public and that its investigation is continuing; no arrests were reported.
Police in Quebec arrested two people in five searches in Shawinigan and Trois-Rivières on 5 November 2026, part of a cannabis-contraband investigation. Officers seized more than 302 kilograms of cannabis products, including edibles, dried and concentrated cannabis and hashish, along with methamphetamine, cash and contraband cigarettes, and released both suspects pending a later court date.
