OPP busts organized crime group accused of making guns

Ontario Provincial Police have charged 23 people after an eight-monthinvestigation into the trafficking of illegal firearms and drugs by an organized crime group in the Greater Toronto and Golden Horseshoe areas.

The accused are believed to havemanufactured and distributed"untraceable" firearms by using unregulated parts, according to the OPP, which did not disclose where exactly the weapons were allegedly made.

Police said theyseized 14 handguns, six long guns including a machine gun and assault rifle, silencers, grenades, a stun gun andbody armour.

They said officers also seized 1.2 kilograms of cocaine, 30 grams of crystal meth, 13 grams of heroin, 66 fentanyl tablets and $85,000 in cash.

OPP Deputy Commissioner Rick Barnum said the investigation, dubbed Project Renner and conducted by theOPP-led provincial weapons enforcement unit,is significant because trafficking in illegal firearms threatens public safety in Ontario.

"We've taken a bunch of guns out of circulation, which could have been used for further crimes to maim and to kill people,"Barnumsaid at a news conference in Vaughan on Tuesday. "Because of this work, our communities are safer today."

Police said the guns have been seen on Toronto streets as early as 2016.

The 23 accused face a total of 156 charges.Two of the accused, considered to be group leaders,are believed to have manufactured and trafficked more than 120 handguns.

Officers also seizedfour vehicles and a residential property.

At thenews conference, Barnum told reporters that the investigation was complex, time-consuming and took months of police work.

"The people charged and the weapons that we have seized are all linked to the typical facets and activities that are synonymous with organized crime, gun violence, affiliation to known criminal groups, street gangs, human trafficking, drug manufacturing and distribution," he said.

'Tools of the trade'

"The photos of the evidence alone accurately depict the tools of the trade used by these criminals."

OPP said theinvestigation began in April 2018 as a probe by theOPP's organized crime enforcement bureauinto an organized crime group that had allegedly been producingrestricted and untraceable firearms using unregulated parts. The OPP-led provincial weapons enforcement unit is part of the bureau.

According to the OPP, the group manufactured illegal guns to be distributed to "multiple criminal cells" in Ontario.

More than 400 police officers from several police forcesexecuted 39 raids late last week across the GTA, Barnum added.

Several police forces took partin the investigation, includingthe Durham, Peel, Halton, Hamilton and Niagara regional police.Other police forces, namely the Toronto, Barrie andLondon police, as well asthe RCMP, helped to carry out search warrants and make arrests.

The people charged are expected to appear in courtin the near future, the OPP said. The accused are from Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Milton, Hamilton, Rockwood and Smithville, Ont.

Charges include:

• Conspiracy to commit an indictable offence.
• Participation in a criminal organization.
• Trafficking in firearms, weapon, device orammunition.
• Possession of loaded prohibited or restricted firearm.
• Possession of firearm knowing the serial number has been tampered with.
• Possession of a schedule 1 substance for the purpose of trafficking.

Police said they don't believe the organized crime group hasa name.