Watch above: A Crimestoppers tip led to the arrest of an Edmonton man at a west end storage locker. Inside the locker, police seized a record amount of hashish. Kendra Slugoski reports.
EDMONTON – The largest hashish seizure in Alberta history was made in Edmonton on October 1.
Thirty kilograms of hashish – valued at $600,000 – was found in a west end storage locker by the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT).
The hashish was packaged and pressed into 30 one-kilogram bricks, was seized along with six pounds of marijuana and $5,000 cash.
Craig Bendt Matthiessen, a 49-year-old man from Edmonton, was at the storage locker and was charged with two counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of proceeds of crime.
This investigation was started because of a public tip to Crime Stoppers.
READ MORE: Record drug seizure in Alberta
Hashish is a form of marijuana produced by collecting and compressing the plant. The Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan, and Afghanistan are the main sources of hashish.
ALERT says it has seen an increase in hashish seizures, which it says is “mainly attributable to the proliferation of e-cigarettes.”
Though not their intended purpose, electric cigarettes have been known to have been used as makeshift marijuana vaporizers.
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