The Ontario Provincial Police and the London Police Service announced that Project Gainsborough, a 16-month investigation, had ended with 21 arrests on 118 charges.[1][2] The Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau and London police began the probe in June 2020 over large-scale distribution of illegal cannabis and derivatives, alongside cocaine trafficking around London.[1][2] Police say a criminal organization ran an illegal cannabis website with delivery in London, Kitchener, Hamilton and Toronto and exported cannabis domestically and to Europe and South America.[1][2]
On 3 November 2021 officers executed 15 search warrants in London, Hamilton, Toronto, St. Thomas, Middlesex County and Norfolk County, dismantling two extraction labs in Brampton and Middlesex County.[1][2] They seized 7,166 kg of bud, 2,773 kg of shake, 495 kg of resin or oil and 185 kg of shatter, about 10,000 packages of edibles and 15,343 plants.[1][2] Police also took 65 kg of psilocybin, 124 grams of cocaine, pills, six firearms with ammunition, more than C$53,000 in cash, grow equipment and six vehicles.[2] Police valued the cannabis and cannabis products at more than C$32 million.[1][2]
Twenty-one people were charged under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, the Cannabis Act and the Criminal Code, including organized-crime charges.[2] Three of the accused were held in custody and the other 18 released for court dates in November or December.[2]
