Holy Smoke Culture Shop co-owners Paul DeFelice and Alan Middlemiss will have to wait a little longer for their day in court.

Sporting his customary dreads and smile on his face, DeFelice sauntered up to Nelson courthouse August 22 where he was met by his lawyer Donald Skogstad and told his bail conditions would be varied by the end of the week.

"Our lawyer and prosecution have already worked out something and apparently we have to sign something in a couple of days and then after that our only condition of bail is not to knowingly be in the presence of marijuana," said DeFelice.

DeFelice was arrested July 15 and charged with two counts of trafficking in a controlled substance on June 2. That same evening, Nelson City Police (NCP) conducted a search of the Holy Smoke premises and seized a pound and a half of cannabis, between $8,000 and $9,000 cash and documents related to the operation of the business. Middlemiss turned himself in August 16 upon hearing there was a warrant for his arrest and is charged with two counts of trafficking in a controlled substance on July 13.

The raid and arrests are part of a wider NCP investigation involving undercover municipal police officers from the coast.

"It was a two-phased eight-day operation involving four undercover operators from Oak Bay, Victoria, Vancouver, and Abbotsford police departments," said NCP Sgt. Steve Bank, adding that the operation targeted alleged drug trafficking in Nelson generally but specifically targeted licensed premises, street-traffickers, trafficking from residences, dial-a-dope operations and the Holy Smoke Culture Shop. "If they're undercover operators, obviously we have to bring somebody in that's not going to be recognized."

DeFelice, however, questioned the police's actions in hiring the officers.

"They were paid per diems. They were put up in hotel rooms. They were flown here from the coast all at great expense. Since it's municipal this is the Nelson taxpayers paying for this," said DeFelice.

Bank, who could not provide the names of the other individuals arrested or establishments targeted, confirmed that the City of Nelson is footing the bill for the operation but said he does not yet know how much it cost. When asked if an exchange of police resources might be involved, Bank said he would not disclose that information to the public.

It's pretty expensive because of wages and such and to be honest, I don't know what the bottom line [in terms of] costing is going to be on this operation until we've dealt with the wages," said Bank, adding that it made sense to bring in municipal police officers instead of RCMP because NCP participates in a municipal police undercover operators pool.

DeFelice and Middlemiss are scheduled to appear in court October 3 and November 7 respectively.