'Wolverine's hand' seized in Waterloo meth raid
Colin Butler | CBC News | Posted: February 25, 2015 3:19 PM | Last Updated: February 25, 2015
Police raid Waterloo home as Guelph crystal meth probe widens
A Guelph police crackdown on crystal meth, dubbed "Project Ice," has widened to include a Waterloo apartment, where a police raid ended in three arrests and the seizure of drugs, cash, weapons and equipment investigators say was being used to measure out, package and distribute illegal drugs.
Officers found small quantities of a number of drugs, such as crystal meth, heroin, marijuana and ecstacy. They seized $2,945 in cash, a bulletproof vest and a number of edged weapons, including hatchets, a machete, and a number of knives.
Police also found an odd weapon described as "Wolverine's hand" by spokesman Const. Michael Gatto, referencing the popular Marvel comic character.
"That's what it looks like," he said. "But I believe it's a push-dagger."
Also among the items seized by officers were digital scales and packaging that is believed to have been used to distribute a number of drugs, including meth, Gatto said.
The three suspects, two men and one woman, were arrested when police raided the Regina Street apartment in Waterloo on Tuesday.
'People want it'
The new arrests bring the total number of suspects arrested in association with "Project Ice" to 18, Gatto said, noting more people are becoming involved the sale and distribution of the illegal drug as its popularity grows.
"It seems to be the drug of choice right now," Gatto said. "People want it."
Project Ice was first launched in December, when Guelph Police noticed a dramatic uptick in the number of seizures of the highly addictive drug on the city's streets.
Gatto said crystal meth was once a problem found more commonly in Ontario's rural communities and has only recently replaced crack cocaine as the drug of choice among drug addicts living in the city.
"Crystal methamphetamine always seemed to be on the outskirts, you know, more in the farming communities for whatever reason," he said. "Why exactly we've seen the shift over the crystal meth, I'm not sure."
A report by Statistics Canada in 2009 showed crystal meth is one among a number of highly dangerous drugs that made at a low cost in small clandestine drug labs that are increasingly becoming the targets of police forces across the country.