Cross-Border Gun, Drug Ring Busted 22 - arrests made in Windsor and Toronto area

Last Updated: Thursday, March 11, 2010 2:17 PM ET: CBC NEWS



Ontario police say they have smashed a sophisticated organized crime group that was smuggling illegal weapons and drugs into the province from the U.S.

The co-ordinated effort by police in Canada and the United States — code-named Project Folkstone — resulted in 22 arrests and hundreds of charges stemming from gun- and drug-related offences, Insp. Steve Clegg of the Ontario Provincial Police said Thursday.

"There are some staggering results," Clegg said. "Most notably, 18 crime guns …were seized along with a substantial amount of drugs. Additionally, stolen vehicles, including cars and motorcycles, have been recovered."

Many of the search warrants were executed Wednesday in the Toronto area and Windsor, but police released scant details.

On Thursday, Clegg told a news conference the raids dealt "a significant blow to a firearms and drug trafficking network operating primarily in the Greater Toronto Area, with import routes through the United States."
One of the men arrested during raids in Toronto on Wednesday is escorted by police. (CBC) The guns and drugs entered Canada from the U.S. through Windsor, police said. Two Windsor men were "the primary source" for the organization's illegal weapons, which police said originated in Kentucky.

"We have information that approximately 80 firearms were supplied to the traffickers in Windsor," Clegg said. " To date, 30 firearms, 18 through Project Folkestone and 12 others recovered through police activity in the GTA, have been recovered.

"This organized crime group in Ontario was very sophisticated and, we believe, has been operating for a number of years while avoiding police detection."

Along with the guns and drugs, police recovered money and stolen vehicles.

"We have seized in excess of $75,000 in Canadian currency, as well as 10 vehicles valued at over $175,000," said Clegg.

Police say the investigation into the crime ring is continuing and that further arrests are possible.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/windsor/story/2010/03/11/project-folkestone.html#ixzz0i5MqvBrK