The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) East Region’s Community Street Crime Unit executed a search warrant at a Spence Avenue apartment on Friday. The officers seized a loaded handgun, brass knuckles, and suspected methamphetamine, crack cocaine, and cannabis.

Almost $3000 in Canadian currency and items associated with drug trafficking were also taken, the OPP said in a statement. Denis Vernier, 56, was arrested and charged with:

• Possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose – Criminal Code (CC) sec. 88
• Possession of a prohibited or restricted weapon – CC sec. 93(a)
• Possession of a loaded prohibited or restricted firearm – CC sec. 95(a)
• Fail to comply with a probation order – CC sec. 733.1(1)
• Careless storage of a firearm – CC sec. 86(1)
• Possession of a Schedule 1 substance for the Purpose of Trafficking – Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA) sec. 5(2)
• Possession of a Schedule 1 Substance – CDSA sec. 4(1)
• Possession of illicit cannabis – Cannabis Act (CA) sec. 8(1)(b)
• Possession for the purpose of distributing – CA sec. 9(2)

He was released from custody and will appear before the Ontario Court of Justice in L’Orignal on December 23.