A recent government report warned banks, law enforcement, and security agencies to look for suspicious activity related to the “flourishing” illicit cannabis industry after examining around 5,000 suspicious transaction reports.
“Despite the introduction of the Cannabis Act, unlicensed activity related to cannabis continues,” says the September 2022 report titled “Operational alert: Laundering of proceeds from illicit cannabis.”
The analysis of suspicious transaction reports related to illicit cannabis was done by the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), Canada’s financial intelligence unit.
“While more consumers are reporting each year that they obtain their cannabis from legal sources, there still exists a flourishing and illegal cannabis market in Canada. Such illegal markets contribute to increased risk of harm to Canada’s financial system and its citizens through significant loss of tax revenue and increased funding of criminal activity by organized crime groups,” the report stated….