POT POLICE SNIFF OUT BLUNT CLUES

The Blunt Shop may have gone up in smoke after police raided the
popular west end business and locked up its owners.

Investigators allege the tobacco and snack products at the store were
a cover for the more lucrative business of peddling thousands of
dollars worth of marijuana and cocaine daily.

"I didn't see anybody go in and buy tobacco. Nobody buys pop, nobody
even goes to the fridge," Detective Constable Doodnath Churkoo said
yesterday, recalling observations from the investigation. "They leave
their car running, they go to the counter and it's right down to
business. They never come out with anything visible."

Investigators began watching the business after a complaint and
reported seeing as many as 80 drug transactions a day. Police swooped
in on Wednesday, arrested two men and seized more than $330,000 worth
of drugs and cash from the store and a home in Mississauga.

[Name redacted], 37, and [Name redacted], 34, both of Mississauga,
were in court yesterday, facing 10 drug-related charges each.

Police say customers ranged from schoolchildren to adults.

"This one is pretty brazen," Det. Constable Churkoo said. "The
neighbourhood knows it as the Blunt Shop."

The business does not have a sign but the telephone number is listed
in that name, which is based on the slang term for a cigar emptied
and repacked with marijuana.

No one was there early last night, the security cage was drawn and
the lights off. Passersby said they knew nothing about the business;
none admitted to shopping there.

People in the St. Clair and Runnymede area said the store was closed yesterday.

At the bakery and cafe next door, the clerk said that the Blunt Shop
had a regular stream of customers. It was otherwise unremarkable, she
said, adding that the proprietor seemed a pleasant guy.

"He was nice, he'd always come in to buy cakes," said Aisha Fazel of
Caesars Oven.