sniffy
Senior Reporter
Dozens charged, $45M in drugs seized in massive Toronto-area organized crime busts
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/york-toronto-drug-busts-1.5239989
Police forces in the Toronto area have charged 50 people and seized $45 million worth of illegal drugs in two major organized crime busts, York Regional Police said in a news conference on Thursday morning.
Led by the York Regional Police, the two investigations — Project Moon and Project Zen — focused on dismantling drug production and trafficking rings.
In Project Zen, York police worked with the Canada Border Services Agency to zero in on an organized crime ring operating out of a house in Vaughan.
They had first focused on the house after a man standing in front was arrested in 2018 and found to have three kilograms of cocaine on him.
In the months since, police found evidence that several suspects were trafficking large amounts of synthetic drugs.
After searching the house, police found handguns, cannabis, cocaine, methamphetamine pills and five kilograms of fentanyl — which police say is the largest amount ever seized at one time in York Region.
It focused on the takedown of what York police describe in a release as a "large-scale synthetic drug network" with ties to Asian organized crime and street gangs.
In a series of searches in several Ontario municipalities including Markham, Lindsay and Pefferlaw, police seized cannabis plants and 560 kilograms of dried cannabis, 23 kilograms of methamphetamine, 15,300 MDMA pills, four kilograms of magic mushrooms, 400 Viagra pills and firearms.
Forty-two people were charged as part of Project Moon.
Among them were members of the Parkdale Crips, a Toronto gang that served as "runners and co-conspirators," according to Bedford.
Abusing medical cannabis licences
Police also revealed on Thursday that the group at the centre of Project Moon was funding its illegal activity by producing and selling cannabis while using legal medical licences.
"There is evidence of this group fraudulently obtaining licences to produce cannabis through Health Canada," said Bedford.
He said several licences were often pooled to "increase production," and cannabis was then grown and sold on the illegal market. He also said there was evidence the cannabis was illegally exported to the U.S.
"Organized crime has manipulated and adapted to the current laws in Canada," he said, showing footage of farms in Leamington, Durham and Kawartha Lakes that were growing cannabis destined to be sold on the black market.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/york-toronto-drug-busts-1.5239989
Police forces in the Toronto area have charged 50 people and seized $45 million worth of illegal drugs in two major organized crime busts, York Regional Police said in a news conference on Thursday morning.
Led by the York Regional Police, the two investigations — Project Moon and Project Zen — focused on dismantling drug production and trafficking rings.
In Project Zen, York police worked with the Canada Border Services Agency to zero in on an organized crime ring operating out of a house in Vaughan.
They had first focused on the house after a man standing in front was arrested in 2018 and found to have three kilograms of cocaine on him.
In the months since, police found evidence that several suspects were trafficking large amounts of synthetic drugs.
After searching the house, police found handguns, cannabis, cocaine, methamphetamine pills and five kilograms of fentanyl — which police say is the largest amount ever seized at one time in York Region.
It focused on the takedown of what York police describe in a release as a "large-scale synthetic drug network" with ties to Asian organized crime and street gangs.
In a series of searches in several Ontario municipalities including Markham, Lindsay and Pefferlaw, police seized cannabis plants and 560 kilograms of dried cannabis, 23 kilograms of methamphetamine, 15,300 MDMA pills, four kilograms of magic mushrooms, 400 Viagra pills and firearms.
Forty-two people were charged as part of Project Moon.
Among them were members of the Parkdale Crips, a Toronto gang that served as "runners and co-conspirators," according to Bedford.
Abusing medical cannabis licences
Police also revealed on Thursday that the group at the centre of Project Moon was funding its illegal activity by producing and selling cannabis while using legal medical licences.
"There is evidence of this group fraudulently obtaining licences to produce cannabis through Health Canada," said Bedford.
He said several licences were often pooled to "increase production," and cannabis was then grown and sold on the illegal market. He also said there was evidence the cannabis was illegally exported to the U.S.
"Organized crime has manipulated and adapted to the current laws in Canada," he said, showing footage of farms in Leamington, Durham and Kawartha Lakes that were growing cannabis destined to be sold on the black market.