Canada - Overgrow.com admin trial

[Alfa]

The largest internet cannabis community was raided in January 2006. The forum admin was arrested, as the website promoted the production of cannabis, supplied the information for cannabis production and had advertisements of cannabis seed vendors.

Some of these seed vendors proved to be owned by the forum administrator.

Here is the news from 2006:

The RCMP in Canada has apparently closed down one of the world's largest cannabis growers websites and at least one Canadian cannabis seed compay. Most troubling is that authorities seized the servers for these sites which reportedly held large databases of cannabis growers and enthusiasts. No confirmed information yet about arrests. If you are able to log onto these sites now it's likely they are being run as entrapment operations by law enforcement. Cannabisworld.com and Overgrow.com Seized By Police

Source: Cannabis Culture Magazine Marc Emery (03 Feb, 2006)
Overgrow.com, Cannabisworld.com, Heaven's Stairway Seed Company, and Eurohemp.com Shut Down and Servers Seized by Canadian Police

When the world's largest websites for cannabis growers and enthusiasts disappeared from the web on Monday, January 30,Richard Calrisian? or Boucher? it was thought to be a server problem. As the week dragged on, tens of thousands of members, seed company sponsors, growers and fans worried there might be more than mere 'server' problems as Richard Calrisian (a pseudonym) had not made any statements in any web based media about any 'technical' problems.Now it appears Heaven's Stairway Seeds (hempqc.com),Cannabisworld.com, Overgrow.com, Eurohemp.com have been shut down and the owners arrested in Canada; all their web properties seized, including the physical servers that held massive databases on thousands of growers, and tens of thousands of photographs of cannabis plants. Seed companies by the dozens used both Overgrow.com and Cannabisworld.com as a main trading ground. Over 40 seed companies had customer service interactive forums on these sites. All the information held on those servers is now in the hands of police. It is not known what charges have been laid nor against whom. That police havenot boasted about this seizure means the investigation is continuing, before any affected parties can react.

Cannabis Culture began receiving emails on Wednesday saying Richard Calrisian and his wife had been arrested along with four employees, but this could not be corroborated.

12th of february 2009:

from an article in Montreals La Presse from Thursday February 19th 2009:

By André Cédilot

With the approval of a Quebec Court judge, the Federal Ministry of justice seized websites belonging to a Montreal trafficker who became a millionaire through the worldwide sale of cannabis seeds. Internet users who click on one of the seven websites will be surprised to see the buffalo logo of the RCMP.

" If we hadn't confiscated the websites anyone could have continued to use the domain names for trafficking purposes" explained prosecutor Caroline Cloutier. Evidence revealed that Richard Hratch Baghdadlian had made sales evaluated at 3,2 million dollars between march 2000 and september 2005.

Arrested in february 2006 after an unprecedented investigation, Baghdadlian 41, pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy, importation and exportation of marijuana seeds and inciting people to consume cannabis. Five of his associates also plead guilty and received suspended sentences of six months to two years. It will be up to judge Jean-Pierre Boyer to establish Baghdadlians sentence. The Crown, represented by Maître François Blanchette wants a five year jail sentence while Maître Loris Cavaliere, for the defense, is asking for a sentence with no jail time ( "to be served in the community").

On the legal level this case was peculiar in that it is legal to plant a hemp seed, to produce clothing for example. But Maître Blanchette pointed out that "Since 1998 it is illegal to sell viable cannabis seeds, meaning those used to produce marijuana in a greenhouse or otherwise". In this case Baghdadlians websites and the nature of messages posted there where quite explicit in describing the nature of the diverse varieties of seeds he put on the world market.

The RCMPs investigation revealed that Baghdadlian would obtain seeds in bulk by (mail or courrier, same word in french...) from New-Zealand and Australia especially but also from the Netherlands and other European countries. After sorting them out in the basement of his Marsan street Quadruplex in Cartierville (a Montreal neighbourhood) he would pack them and ship them out to internet users who had placed an order. Most of his customers were in the U.S. and Europe.

If anyone has more information about this trial, then please post it.