The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has shut down an Internet company that sold marijuana seeds to customers worldwide, the Montreal Gazette reported March 1.

Heaven's Stairway had operated openly in Montreal since 1998, but police shut down the operation in a raid this week, charging owner Richard Baghdadian and six others with importing and trafficking marijuana. The company had been receiving about 30 seed orders daily, averaging about $100 an order.

The company reportedly got seeds from British Columbia, Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands and sold them to customers throughout North America and internationally. Purchases were made with money orders or cash sent to a Montreal post office box.

The RCMP seized more than 200,000 seeds during a raid.

Marc-Boris St. Maurice, president of Canada's Marijuana Foundation, said, "There are about two or three dozen companies operating in Canada that sell seeds either by mail or in stores. They have been functioning pretty much with impunity and no police intervention."