The operator of a magic mushroom shop in Winnipeg has been placed under house arrest

One of the operators of an illegal magic mushroom shop that sprung up in Osborne Village last year will serve nine months under house arrest for his role in the operation.

Hosnia Qazi, a real estate agent from Ottawa, was in court Wednesday after being arrested in May 2023 on charges of possession of drugs for the purpose of drug trafficking.

The court heard Winnipeg police began investigating the Magic Mush store on May 18, 2023, and on two separate occasions, undercover officers visited the store to purchase products.

“In each case the employees did not ask for any identification or offer any advice or explanation regarding the product they were selling,” said Crown attorney Dan Manning, reading the statement of facts.

Manning also told the court that during the second undercover interaction, an officer asked Qazi, who was working behind the counter, if he needed to get his nervous girlfriend some mushrooms and if she needed a prescription.

“We're not taking any prescriptions because we just opened and we're trying to take police temperatures right now,” Manning told the officer at the time.

Manning noted that the business is completely profit-driven, and while it claims to offer different strains, it's actually all the same.

On May 19, the police searched the company and Kazi's house. Officers found 39 13-gram bags of mushrooms and other empty mushroom products and more than $3,000 in cash from the store.

Officers found mushroom products and more than $12,000 in cash at Kazi's home.

Kazi ran the business with her then-boyfriend, Damien Hiebert. Her barrister, Jack Lloyd, told the court her relationship with Hiebert was abusive and that she was being dragged along by a “bad guy”.

Hiebert died of a fentanyl overdose shortly after his arrest, the court heard.

Lloyd also told court police he was willing to give Kazi and Hiebert a notice to close up shop. However, the police's hands were tied after their former lawyer, Jamie Kagan, told the media that they would reopen if the police raided.

In a previous interview with CTV News Winnipeg, Kagan said the store is there so people have “an opportunity to make an informed decision” and wants the police to “go behind us and understand how good it is for us. We are on the same team.”

Lloyd said in court that Kagan's comments to the media were “strange.”

Before sentencing, Judge Sam Raposo heard from Lloyd that Kazi had no interest in pursuing “any further litigation” and expressed deep remorse for his role.

Raposo said this is a flagrant violation of the law and “there are no guarantees in drugs.”

“Your actions, including the sale of these illegal drugs, contributed to the hunt for drug addicts,” Raposo said.

He also noted that Qazi received “terrible advice” about running a business from the Khagan.

Kazi was sentenced to nine months of conditional imprisonment, which he will serve under house arrest.