Four individuals are facing multiple charges after authorities reportedly found firearms and drugs in a Whitby residence, an operation that originated from a vehicle stop over 200 km away in Kingston.
According to the Ontario Provincial Police, a drug-trafficking probe that began earlier this year in the Quinte area resulted in these arrests this week.
The OPP East Region Community Street Crime Unit, along with the Belleville Police Service Emergency Response Team, Belleville Police Canine Unit, and members of the OPP’s Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau, stopped a car at the Hwy. 401 off-ramp at Division St. in Kingston on Tuesday, as reported by the OPP on Wednesday.
“Officers arrested one person and seized more than 74 grams of suspected cocaine, a quantity of suspected fentanyl, over $300 in cash, as well as items typically associated with drug trafficking,” police said.
The driver of the vehicle was taken into custody.
Shortly afterward, the OPP indicated that members of their Community Street Crime Unit executed a search warrant at a home on Littlebeck Cr. – near Dundas St. W. and Hwy. 412 – in Whitby with help from their East Region Tactics and Rescue Unit and officers from the Prince Edward and Quinte West Detachments.
“Two people were arrested at the scene,” police said.
During the search, officers allegedly recovered two loaded handguns with over-capacity magazines, ammunition, more than 1,100 grams of suspected cocaine, over two grams of suspected MDMA, more than five grams of fentanyl, over $10,000 in cash, along with scales and several cellphones.
Ashley Forde, 48; Dajion Forde, 24; and Sophia Abrahams, 47; all from Whitby are each charged with three counts of possession of a Schedule 1 substance for trafficking purposes; two counts related to careless storage of firearms; two counts concerning possession of weapons for dangerous purposes; two counts regarding possession of prohibited devices or ammunition; two counts for having loaded prohibited or restricted firearms; two counts involving unauthorized possession of such firearms; two counts related to possession with ammunition; two counts pertaining to knowledge about unauthorized firearm possession; and one count for possessing proceeds obtained from crime exceeding $5,000.
Ashley Forde also faces an extra charge for possessing a Schedule 1 substance for trafficking after being apprehended during the Kingston vehicle stop.
All three were held pending a bail hearing expected to occur in Belleville court on Wednesday.
