15 charged, men wanted in $3.5M provincial magic mushrooms bust
Posted Apr 17, 2025 10:02:53 AM.
Last Updated Nov 11, 2025 09:49:20 AM.
Editor’s note, Nov. 11, 2025: A name of one person arrested has been removed since charges against them were stayed in court.
York Regional Police have charged 15 people and issued arrest warrants for two wanted men believed to be hiding in the U.K. and Egypt as part of a $3.5 million magic mushrooms investigation.
Authorities say Project Magic was launched in March 2024 and focused on York Region’s FunGuyz Magic Mushrooms store, located at Yonge Street and Centre Street in Vaughan.
Investigators targeted FunGuyz Magic Mushroom stores across Ontario and laid 78 charges against 15 suspects involved in the production and distribution of illegal substances, including magic mushrooms and the psychedelic drug DMT.
Throughout the Project Magic investigation, officers seized 181 kilograms of dried psilocybin, 137 kilograms of edible psilocybin, 167,645 psilocybin capsules, 179 grams of DMT, 541 grams of illicit cannabis, more than $450,000 in cash and property worth over $1 million.
Arrest warrants have been issued for Mozda Karim, 38, of Toronto, who is believed to have fled the country for the U.K., and Samer Akila, 32, of London, Ont., who is now thought to have fled to Egypt after failing to comply with his release order.
The two men are wanted on multiple drug trafficking and possession charges.
List of those arrested
- Adam Akila, 30, London, Ont.
- Orlando Fernandez Garcia, 29, Newmarket, Ont.
- Samy Erian, 32, Gatineau, Que.
- Feras Almasri, 31, Mississauga, Ont.
- Ragip Osdautaj, 35, Grimsby, Ont.
- Kevin Londano Castano, 28, Toronto, Ont.
- Thomas Nelson, 53, Toronto, Ont.
- Kevin Amaya, 31, Hamilton, Ont.
- Polina Iumanov, 32, Hamilton, Ont.
- Duncan Craig, 34, Puslinch, Ont.
- Adonios Valvis-Rocha, 39, Whitcurch-Stouffville, Ont.
- Tsi Choy, 39, Whitchurch-Stouffville, Ont.
Charges range from trafficking and the possession of psilocybin to trafficking DMT.
In Canada, the production, sale, and possession of magic mushrooms—containing the hallucinogenic compound psilocybin—and the psychedelic drug DMT are illegal under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.
