Police have formally laid charges against three men from Leamington, in connection to a cocaine-trafficking investigation.
Officers from the RCMP, Canada Border Services Agency, Essex County OPP and Chatham-Kent police made the arrests yesterday, after executing several search warrants in the Leamington area.
Officials say the two-year investigation revealed a criminal group moving large amounts of cocaine from Mexico into Canada.
Charged with drug-trafficking and conspiracy to kidnap are Daniel Tiessen, 48; and Jacob Thiessen, 29. Jay Shanks, 56, faces the latter charge.
Investigators say cocaine shipments made it across international borders undetected, through a number of sophisticated concealment methods.
Over 2 kg of cocaine was seized.