A staggering quantity of deadly hard drugs seized from Cobourg’s controversial shelter at 310 Division Street and a nearby residence is renewing serious questions about safety, oversight, and the breakdown of public order in the neighbourhood.

Police executed simultaneous Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA) search warrants on November 13 and 14 at both a Margaret Street residence and a unit inside the shelter, as part of what investigators say is an ongoing probe into entrenched drug trafficking in the area.

Cobourg residents speak out on low-barrier shelter-driven crime and drug use surge following the expansion of services to a new facility. pic.twitter.com/BG7UXgpl0Z

— Tamara Ugolini 🇨🇦 (@TamaraUgo) June 19, 2025

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The joint operation between Cobourg Police Service and Port Hope Police Service uncovered a staggering 472 grams of fentanyl, 30 grams of cocaine, 46 grams of crystal meth, morphine, oxycodone, psilocybin, cash, multiple cellphones, and packaging and drug-production materials. Police estimate the street value to be roughly $320,000.

Two Cobourg residents — 39-year-old Cory Keers and 35-year-old Llewellyn Dowle — were arrested and face a full suite of trafficking charges, including possession for the purpose of trafficking fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine, production of fentanyl, and possession of proceeds of crime. Police allege Keers additionally trafficked morphine, oxycodone, and psilocybin.

Inside Cobourg’s encampment struggles: how shelter issues and service failures impact the town

It has been a year since an encampment established itself at the former Brookside Youth Detention Centre.

FULL REPORT by @TamaraUgo: https://t.co/Sn7IrTfYkr pic.twitter.com/sEYuBY7Uiv

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) September 9, 2024

This latest bust only adds fodder to the growing fire from residents who have long warned that the shelter has become a magnet for illicit activity, with little in the way of meaningful accountability or operational reform from the shelter provider, Transition House.

While police highlight the quantity of drugs seized, broader questions remain unaddressed: How did such a large-scale trafficking operation take root inside a taxpayer-funded shelter? What oversight failures allowed it to flourish? And what protections exist for residents living nearby or for those who turn to the shelter seeking support and distance from drug use?

This follows a “Historic 48% increase in homelessness funding to Northumberland to help the most vulnerable receive the help and care they need,” from the province in 2023. It was meant to “combat” the homelessness crisis, but it has only proliferated since.

We explored Cobourg's homelessness, addiction, and crime crisis today

From the burgeoning encampment to shuttered taxpayer-funded buildings, the latest 35-bed "low barrier" shelter, and unsafe bank vestibules, we witnessed it all

Coming soon @ https://t.co/10R46kQQPn pic.twitter.com/onm69WsAQX

— Tamara Ugolini 🇨🇦 (@TamaraUgo) January 7, 2024

Northumberland County’s Director of Homelessness, Rebecca Carman, has received similar increases to her annual salary in recent years. An 11.2% raise in 2023, followed by a 19.2% raise in 2024, putting her annual earnings at $140,095 plus benefits.

Cobourg Police Chief Paul VandeGraaf has long dismissed residents’ concerns. At a 2023 Police Services Board meeting, he lectured the public, insisting, “I’m going to say it one more time. There's a real difference between feeling unsafe and being unnerved.”

He then cited his wife’s experience at the downtown Scotiabank, claiming she didn’t feel unsafe, but rather “unnerved” by having to step over individuals in mental-health or addiction crises, before instructing residents to adopt the same language.

Chief VandeGraaf's message was clear: residents’ escalating fears were framed not as legitimate safety concerns, but as a semantic misunderstanding. Now, as police haul away staggering quantities of hard drugs from the shelter and hold the accused for bail hearings, the investigation continues. So, too, do residents’ unresolved questions about the shelter’s growing role in Cobourg’s spiralling drug and public safety landscape.