Ottawa Police Arrest Suspect After Traffic Stop Yields Drug Tablets, $28K Cash

Ontario Provincial Police seized $28,000 in cash along with suspected drug tablets during a highway traffic stop after receiving a call about an impaired driver, in Ottawa on Dec. 28, 2024. Courtesy of OPP/X

A call to the police in Ottawa about a possible impaired driver on Highway 417 led to a major seizure of cash and drugs on Saturday evening, Dec. 28.

Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officers stopped the vehicle and conducted roadside screening. During the stop, they found that the driver had in his possession $28,000 in cash and multiple suspected drug tablets, the East Region OPP said in a post on social media platform X the next morning.

An investigation is ongoing, and the driver was brought to the police detachment for further testing, the OPP said.

“Thank you to the public for helping keep our roads safe!” the post added.

Drug busts have cropped up elsewhere across Ontario during traffic stops this month.

At around 1:30 a.m. on Dec. 26, members of the OPP’s Almaguin Highlands detachment was conducting a traffic stop with a vehicle on Highway 124 when they received an alert from their automated licence plate reader about a “potential wanted party,” an OPP press release stated.

The officers arrested the driver and passenger for drug possession and seized substances believed to be cocaine, fentanyl, and methamphetamine, worth an estimated street value of approximately $17,000. This drug bust occurred in the Township of Strong in Northern Ontario.

Three days earlier, on the late afternoon of Dec. 23, an officer in Sudbury saw a vehicle “being driven in an erratic manner” in the area of Notre Dame Avenue and King Street, according to a press release from the Greater Sudbury Police Service posted Dec. 27.

The driver was driving without a licence and had an open bottle of alcohol within his reach. As he was placed under arrest and searched, officers found a large sum of cash and over 280 grams of what was believed to be cocaine. Additional illicit drugs believed to be magic mushrooms were found in the vehicle, along with cash, drug packaging materials, and multiple knives. A total of over $15,000 was seized.

Both the driver and passenger were charged with drug possession for the purpose of trafficking. The driver was also charged with various other offences including careless driving, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, and possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000.

On the late evening of Dec. 8, officers from the OPP’s Kirkland Lake detachment searched a vehicle during a traffic stop and seized 783 grams of crystal methamphetamine, 64 grams of cocaine, and 7 grams of ecstasy.

“Upon speaking to the driver, police observed open alcohol, cannabis and drug paraphernalia readily accessible to the driver,” a Dec. 28 press release stated. Two suspects were taken into custody.