Two-Tenths of a Gram of Fentanyl and Eleven Thousand Three Hundred and Fifteen Dollars in Cash: North Bay Police Charge Nathaniel Ross Hughes, 43, With Four Counts of Breaching a Firearms Prohibition, Then Release Him on an Undertaking (Originally Reported September 3, 2026)
NORTH BAY — This file was published on Thursday, September 3, 2026 and is not a story that broke today. A car was pulled over at half past nine on a Monday morning because it was missing a plate. What came out of it was two-tenths of a gram of fentanyl, an eleven-thousand-dollar roll of cash, a chain weapon, a BB gun pistol, and a charge sheet with four counts of possessing a firearm or ammunition contrary to a prohibition order on it.
The ratio in that inventory is the story. The drug quantity is negligible. The money is not, and neither is the firearms record it sits alongside.
What the North Bay Police Service Has Put on the Record
- When: approximately 9:30 a.m. on Monday, August 31, 2026.
- Where: the area of Laurier Avenue and Fisher Street, North Bay.
- Why the stop: a vehicle failing to display two plates. Conducted by NBPS Patrol Section.
- What escalated it: officers observed an open container in the vehicle, prompting a further search.
- Seized: 0.2 g fentanyl; a Kusari-like weapon; a BB gun pistol; $11,315 in Canadian currency.
- Nathaniel Ross Hughes, 43, of North Bay: possession of a Schedule I substance for the purpose of trafficking; possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000; two counts of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose; four counts of possession of a firearm or ammunition contrary to a prohibition order; unauthorized possession of a prohibited or restricted firearm. Nine counts in total.
- Heather Small, 33, of North Bay: possession of a Schedule I substance for the purpose of trafficking; possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000.
- Quoted: Acting Deputy Warner.
- Outcome: both accused were arrested and released on undertakings with a future court date.
- What is absent: no street value for the fentanyl, no vehicle description, no court date, no occurrence number, no statement of who was driving, and no criminal organization.
The Charge Sheet Does Not Match the Seizure List
This is the fact a reader should sit with. The North Bay Police Service itemizes four things taken out of the car: fentanyl, a Kusari-like weapon, a BB gun pistol and cash. Hughes is nonetheless charged with unauthorized possession of a prohibited or restricted firearm, and with four counts of possessing a firearm or ammunition contrary to a prohibition order.
Either an item on that seizure list is being treated as a firearm within the meaning of the Criminal Code, or something was recovered that the release does not inventory. The force does not resolve it, and this briefing does not guess which. It is recorded here because the gap between what was listed and what was charged is the single most consequential ambiguity in the file.
The Kusari-like weapon accounts for at least one of the two possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose counts. A kusari-fundo is a weighted chain, and it is a prohibited weapon in Canada.
Four Prohibition Counts Mean Four Orders, or One Order and Four Items
Possession of a firearm or ammunition contrary to a prohibition order is the charge that puts this file on the beat. It is not available against someone with a clean record. It requires an existing court order barring the accused from possessing firearms, weapons or ammunition, and it is laid when police allege that order was breached.
Four counts of it means either multiple separate orders were in force, or multiple prohibited items were found, or both. North Bay Police say none of this. What the count establishes on the public record is that Hughes was, on the force’s allegation, already legally barred from what officers say they found in the car.
None of the allegations has been tested in court.
Eleven Thousand Dollars, Two-Tenths of a Gram, and a Release on an Undertaking
The proceeds of crime charge is laid at the over-$5,000 threshold against both accused, which is the force treating the $11,315 as the property in question. A trafficking charge on 0.2 grams of fentanyl is not a charge about weight — it is a charge built on the money and the context around it, because two-tenths of a gram on its own is a personal-use quantity.
Both accused were released on undertakings. That is the outcome worth noting alongside four prohibition-order counts: a man alleged to have breached a firearms prohibition four times over was not held for a bail hearing. The force offers no comment on the release decision, and this briefing draws no conclusion from it beyond recording that it happened.
Acting Deputy Warner is quoted saying patrol officers did an excellent job, that what started as a traffic stop quickly led to the seizure of suspected fentanyl, weapons and cash linked to drug trafficking, and that every disruption of the drug supply makes a critical impact on community safety.
No criminal organization has been named by the North Bay Police Service in this file, and none is named here.
North Bay Police Service — Laurier and Fisher Traffic Stop
Primary Wire Sources
- North Bay Police Service: “Media Release: Traffic Stop Leads to Drug Trafficking Investigation, Two Arrested”, published Thursday, September 3, 2026. Every name, weight, item and count above was confirmed on that page.
- MyNorthBayNow: “Drug and weapons-related charges filed after traffic stop”, by Richard Coffin, published September 3, 2026. Carried the file without naming the accused.
- The nine-count total for Hughes is arithmetic performed on the itemized list in the release, which states the multipliers but not the total. The description of a kusari-fundo as a weighted chain is general reference and is not a characterisation made by the North Bay Police Service.
- None of the allegations has been tested in court. No criminal organization has been named by the North Bay Police Service in this file, and none is named in this briefing.
