OTTAWA: The Ottawa police street crime unit charged two teens with trafficking drugs after raiding a home on Ritchie Street.
Police seized nearly five grams each of crack cocaine and cocaine, nine pills of ecstasy, just shy of two grams of marijuana, 54 pills of synthetic marijuana, three laptops — believed to be stolen — and cash totalling almost $10,000. Police estimated the street value of the drugs to be around $2,300.
Denzel Maxwell and Joilette Farquharson-Appiah, both 19, have been charged with possessing cocaine, crack cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy for the purpose of trafficking, and possessing proceeds of crime under $5,000. Maxwell was also charged with three counts of trafficking cocaine.
The investigation started earlier this month, according to Staff Sgt. Sean Barrett, who heads the street crime unit where plainclothes officers make street-level drug busts. A search of a home in the Britannia Woods Community Housing development Monday led to the arrests.
The street crime unit has typically concentrated on Centretown, but Barrett said the unit is also active in other neighbourhoods and will continue that work.
Farquharson-Appiah was released on a promise to appear in court at an unspecified date, while her co-accused Maxwell was remanded into custody until a scheduled bail hearing next week.
