DRUG PARAPHERNALIA SEIZED; LOTUS STORE OWNERS ARRESTED

Officers in the drug and vice squad raided a Main Street
store for the second time in two years.

More than 600 pieces of drug paraphernalia were seized from Lotus
after York Regional Police descended on the shop following an
investigation that began late last year.

A man and two women from East Gwillimbury, all in their late 20s, have
been charged with selling instruments for illicit drug use.

Last Wednesday, officers executed a search warrant at the Main Street
shop where they confiscated drug-smoking instruments, grinders and oil
extractors.

The owners and an employee were arrested at the store.

Undercover officers had been purchasing items for drug use as part of
their investigation several weeks prior to last Wednesday's arrests,
Det. Kory Keeping said.

The arrests were not a follow-up from 2005, when the same store
operators were charged.

Rather, residents had been calling police to complain about the
store's customers and its merchandise.

"It's not that we went actively hunting for head shops," he said.

"When we get a complaint, we're going to act on it."

Lotus' owners were charged in May 2005 after officers seized about
$10,000 worth of drug paraphernalia.

During the two-day sweep in the Newmarket and Aurora in May 2005, York
police investigated 36 stores in search of illegal drug
merchandise.

Nine store owners were warned and told to remove the items.

To operate, a business must register with the province, not the
municipality, Newmarket spokesperson Crystal Moss said.

Only a small number of specific types of businesses are licenced by
the town, such as pool halls and body rub parlours, she added.