A police raid on a new downtown London pot shop resulted from citizen complaints, not because the illegal business was openly selling cannabis to anyone older than 19, the city’s police chief says.

Police swooped in on the London Relief Centre on Richmond Street last Wednesday, less than two weeks after it opened in defiance of the law, charging five staffers and seizing cannabis and cash.

But unlike the spring crackdown on pot shops, when police raided five dispensaries across the city, last week’s clampdown only targeted the Richmond Row operation, leaving London’s four other dispensaries unscathed.

“How we’ve been handling the dispensaries, and we’ve been very open about it, is that (if) we receive complaints, we gather evidence, we take the appropriate action,” Chief John Pare said.

The London Relief Centre was the city’s first dispensary where anyone 19 or older could buy marijuana, regardless of whether they had a valid prescription, as required by the city’s other pot shops.

Cannabis crusader Jodie Emery, the wife of former Londoner and longtime pot activist Marc Emery, accused police of taking a “Russian roulette” approach.

“It’s harmful, it’s costly . . . and all Canadians are going to be paying for it, whether they like pot or not,” Emery said of the action against pot shops.

Police across Canada have launched 272 raids on dispensaries since Justin Trudeau became prime minister 22 months ago, according to website that tracks the incidents.

The London Relief Centre, located in a ground-floor unit at 691 Richmond St., remained closed during the weekend. Two flat screen televisions listing available strains of marijuana remained on, but the shelves were empty.

Last week’s raid came on the heels of the Ontario Liberals’ announcement to open 40 ­government-run cannabis stores and an online service by the summer, when Ottawa is expected to deliver on its plan to legalize recreational pot by July 1.

In a bid to stamp out unsanctioned pot shops, the province pledged more then $274 million for enforcement.

But critics have questioned whether the government-run system can handle the surging demand, pointing to supply problems already plaguing Health Canada-approved medicinal marijuana producers. The chronic shortages, along with other issues such as minimum order requirements, sent many medicinal patients to the dispensaries.

“If they have the choice, they’re going to choose dispensaries,” Emery said of marijuana users, both medical and recreational. “And that’s why the government is sending out men with guns to crack down on the competition in a strange, cartel-style monopolization move. It’s disgusting and harmful.”

dcarruthers@postmedia.com

twitter.com/DaleatLFPress

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By the numbers

7: London dispensaries raided since August, 2016

15:Staffers, operators facing charges

45:Combined charges laid

4:London dispensaries still operating