More than $139 million worth of drugs have been seized in a cross-border, multi-jurisdiction investigation in southern Ontario that resulted in more than 100 charges against 21 suspects, marking what police are calling one of the largest busts in the history of the province.
Nearly 1.7 metric tonnes of drugs and numerous weapons, including an anti-tank rifle, were seized in Project Bay, an 18-month investigation targeting drug trafficking across the Canada-U.S. border at the Blue Water Bridge port of entry in Sarnia, Ont., police said at a July 23 press conference in Windsor.
Police have arrested 19 people and two suspects remain at large, OPP Acting Detective Superintendent Andrew Bradford told reporters. The investigation is ongoing but 102 charges have been laid so far.
The drug seizure and arrests come after the Windsor Police Service launched a drug trafficking probe last January. The investigation expanded to include the Ontario Provincial Police, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), the Toronto Police Service, and Peel Regional Police due to its increasing “scope and complexity,” Bradford said.
U.S. Homeland Security Investigations and the Drug Enforcement Administration helped with international aspects of the investigation.
Bradford told reporters that investigators uncovered a “broker-style” transportation model functioning within the commercial trucking sector. The network is accused of coordinating shipments and arranging for drivers to transport concealed drugs within legitimate commercial cargo.
“This method highlights the evolving tactics used by criminal networks,” Bradford said, adding that Project Bay has made “a significant dent” in a network that is “transnational in scope and very organized.”
Investigators confiscated 973 kilograms of cocaine, 660 kilograms of methamphetamine, 49 kilograms of opium, and 230 oxycodone tablets after executing 22 search warrants over a one-month period across a number of southern Ontario communities.
Officers also confiscated 17 firearms, including the anti-tank rifle. “The fact that it’s in the hands of organized drug traffickers is a concerning public safety issue,” Bradford said.
Ammunition and other weapons, nearly $100,000 in Canadian and American currency, a vehicle, high-end jewellery, and an array of technical devices were also seized.
Bradford declined to talk about seizures or arrests made south of the border, but said the drug trafficking network extends into the southwestern United States. He also declined to say if drug cartels were involved.
“Logically, Mexico is a well-known transshipment point with drug cartels for cocaine,” he added. “They’re also large producers of methamphetamine due to the access to chemicals. But I won’t speak to specific affiliations at this time, as the investigation remains ongoing.”
Cocaine is not produced in Canada but some of the methamphetamine could have been made in domestic laboratories, police said.
Windsor Police Chief Jason Crowley noted that while the investigation and subsequent arrests and seizures do leave a “large dent” in the network, it is not completely dismantled.
“The networks run very deep,” he said, noting that the investigation has led to other organized crime leads. “This work is never done.”
CBSA Regional Director General for Southern Ontario Michael Prosia also said further efforts are being made to dismantle the groups.
“The intelligence that we’ve gathered from these seizures has helped us not only in these communities but across Canada,” he said. “It will help make intelligence-led referrals at other ports of entry across the country to further identify and disrupt these networks.”
Those charged range in age from 19 to 55 and come from a number of southern Ontario cities. The police have listed the accused and the charges against them in an attachment to a border agency press release.
Prosia said the CBSA in southern Ontario has seized more than 200 firearms and 5,500 kilograms of illegal drugs at its land ports of entry so far this year.
