Charges laid after illegal drugs, weapons found at 2 convenience stores

Synthetic cannabis seized by the Edmonton Police Service. (Supplied)

Illegal drugs and weapons have been removed from two Edmonton convenience stores, police say.

Two men and the corporation that owns the stores together face 63 charges, including drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, and contraband tobacco trafficking.

The seizures happened at two Joy’s Lucky 7 Food Store locations: 67 Street and 118 Avenue on Nov. 19, and 156 Street and 106 Avenue on Dec. 1. They were both searched again during a compliance inspection in January.

Altogether, police found about $65,000 worth of synthetic cannabis, psilocybin edibles worth about $2,100, 1,800 contraband cigars, 40 spring-assisted knives, about 70 grams of chewing tobacco, a number of brass knuckles, and more than $1,000 in Canadian currency.

Additionally, a search of a home near Lessard Road and Dalhousie Way on Dec. 18 yielded $15,000 in Canadian currency, another set of brass knuckles, and designer goods like purses worth about $25,000.

The charges against the corporation and two men, aged 60 and 32, were laid in late January.

Police did not name the corporation when announcing the charges on Monday.

Court dates have not been set yet.

According to the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) agency, synthetic cannabinoids are unregulated in Canada and therefore either illicitly produced or illegally imported.

“We encourage Edmontonians to contact police or make an anonymous report to Crime Stoppers if they see unusual or illegal items on display at their local corner-stores. We will investigate these reports to our fullest extent,” said Const. Michael Davis, from the Edmonton Police Service’s convenience store task force, in a statement.