Opium poppy seizure largest in Alberta history

A man was charged after he allegedly accepted a package with more than 70 kilograms of dried opium poppy at his grocery store in southeast Edmonton last week, police said Tuesday.

"We do believe this is the largest opium poppy seizure in Alberta's history,"said acting Insp.Greg Preston ofthe organized crime branch of Edmonton Police.

"It's become something new for the Edmonton Police Service, relatively new for Canadian law enforcement authorities in that we have seen some poppy heads here and there, but as of late we have started to notice larger-scale seizures."

The man, 52, and his business were jointly charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking.

Last week, Peel Regional Police in Mississauga, west of Toronto,tipped off officers in the Edmonton gang and drug section that a package was coming to Edmonton from Mississauga, Ont.

On Thursday, undercover officers delivered the package to the Neelkamal Indian Grocery and Movies Ltd. at 27th Avenue and 48th Street. After the delivery was completed, the man was arrested.

After getting a search warrant for the business, police seized 12 boxes labelled "dried flowers." They discovered more than 70 kg of poppy heads and about 370 grams of the dried form of substance, known as doda.

Doda is created when the poppy heads are ground down. The substance is then turned into a tea thatpeople drink to experience the drug's effects.The drug is highly addictive and police are concernednow thatthey havelearnedsome professional drivers are using it.

"We don't want high drivers or sleepy drivers and you can get them both from using doda," Preston said.

The street value of the drugs is $12,000 to $20,000.

Police in Edmonton are working withpolice in the Peel Region to determine where the poppy heads came from.