{"id":103463,"date":"2026-04-06T09:52:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T13:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=103463"},"modified":"2026-04-06T09:52:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T13:52:07","slug":"potlotek-shuts-down-main-road-in-cape-breton-following-cannabis-raid-rcmp-abandon-police-vehicles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/06\/potlotek-shuts-down-main-road-in-cape-breton-following-cannabis-raid-rcmp-abandon-police-vehicles\/","title":{"rendered":"Potlotek shut down main road in Cape Breton following cannabis raid, RCMP abandon police vehicles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Rosemary Godin, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Cape Breton Post A group of RCMP officers abandoned their vehicles in Potlotek First Nation and walked out with rifles and guns in full view Thursday morning after women in the tiny Cape Breton community blocked police cars following a raid at a cannabis store. Police executed a search warrant at the Sikku Shop at 7 a.m. and rammed in the steel door causing windows to break. They later removed the door, some windows, and signage on buildings. A U-Haul truck was filled with product, coolers and a debit machine. Women flooded the area outside the dispensary early in the morning and put their cars or stood in front of the police vehicles so they couldn\u2019t leave. There were at least eight marked&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F04%2F06%2Fpotlotek-shuts-down-main-road-in-cape-breton-following-cannabis-raid-rcmp-abandon-police-vehicles%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Rosemary Godin, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Cape Breton Post A group of RCMP officers abandoned their vehicles in Potlotek First Nation and walked out with rifles and guns in full view Thursday morning after women in the tiny Cape Breton community blocked police cars following a raid at a cannabis store. Police executed a search warrant at the Sikku Shop at 7 a.m. and rammed in the steel door causing windows to break. They later removed the door, some windows, and signage on buildings. A U-Haul truck was filled with product, coolers and a debit machine. Women flooded the area outside the dispensary early in the morning and put their cars or stood in front of the police vehicles so they couldn\u2019t leave. There were at least eight marked... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F04%2F06%2Fpotlotek-shuts-down-main-road-in-cape-breton-following-cannabis-raid-rcmp-abandon-police-vehicles%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Potlotek shut down main road in Cape Breton following cannabis raid, RCMP abandon police vehicles - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/06\/potlotek-shuts-down-main-road-in-cape-breton-following-cannabis-raid-rcmp-abandon-police-vehicles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Potlotek shut down main road in Cape Breton following cannabis raid, RCMP abandon police vehicles - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Rosemary Godin, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Cape Breton Post A group of RCMP officers abandoned their vehicles in Potlotek First Nation and walked out with rifles and guns in full view Thursday morning after women in the tiny Cape Breton community blocked police cars following a raid at a cannabis store. Police executed a search warrant at the Sikku Shop at 7 a.m. and rammed in the steel door causing windows to break. They later removed the door, some windows, and signage on buildings. A U-Haul truck was filled with product, coolers and a debit machine. Women flooded the area outside the dispensary early in the morning and put their cars or stood in front of the police vehicles so they couldn\u2019t leave. There were at least eight marked\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/06\/potlotek-shuts-down-main-road-in-cape-breton-following-cannabis-raid-rcmp-abandon-police-vehicles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-06T13:52:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-06T13:52:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/06\\\/potlotek-shuts-down-main-road-in-cape-breton-following-cannabis-raid-rcmp-abandon-police-vehicles\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/06\\\/potlotek-shuts-down-main-road-in-cape-breton-following-cannabis-raid-rcmp-abandon-police-vehicles\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Potlotek shut down main road in Cape Breton following cannabis raid, RCMP abandon police vehicles\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-06T13:52:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-06T13:52:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/06\\\/potlotek-shuts-down-main-road-in-cape-breton-following-cannabis-raid-rcmp-abandon-police-vehicles\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1271,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/06\\\/potlotek-shuts-down-main-road-in-cape-breton-following-cannabis-raid-rcmp-abandon-police-vehicles\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/06\\\/potlotek-shuts-down-main-road-in-cape-breton-following-cannabis-raid-rcmp-abandon-police-vehicles\\\/\",\"name\":\"Potlotek shut down main road in Cape Breton following cannabis raid, RCMP abandon police vehicles - 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