Police raids seize guns, 'vast amounts' of illegal drugs

[Euphoric]

Police raids seize guns, 'vast amounts' of illegal drugs

Illegally produced Viagra, and ecstasy, marijuana and cash seized

Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair has shed more light on a series of pre-dawn raids Thursday morning by several police forces in the Greater Toronto Area, saying 27 people have been arrested after 30 search warrants were executed.

More arrests are expected in a guns-and-drugs investigation dubbed Project Blackhawk.

"Vast amounts of illegal drugs were seized during this investigation," along with almost 50 firearms, Blair said at a news conference.

Blair said the genesis of the operation was a tip from U.S. police in 2006 that 237 handguns had been smuggled into Canada.

The resulting investigation was directly related to Thursday's seizure of guns, as well as large amounts of illegal drugs.

"Fifty-nine kilograms of methamphetamine, 400,000 ecstasy tablets, three kilos of cocaine, 60 kilograms of marijuana and a large quantity of cash," as well as illegally produced Viagra anti-impotence pills, were seized by police.

Blair said 47 firearms were also seized. In total, 82 guns were confiscated during the investigation.

The raid is linked to a previous raid on a drug laboratory in an industrial park in Mississauga on April 29.

At the time, police were tight-lipped about what they had found inside, but Blair told the news conference on Thursday afternoon that "an astounding quantity of drugs had been seized" at the Mississauga location.

"Over 4,000 kilograms of methamphetamine and ecstasy powder, including a large quantity of already processed ecstasy pills for distribution, were seized. The estimated value of the drugs seized in that raid, at that location, exceeds $160 million," said Blair.
Task force carries out sweeps

Thursday's raids were carried out by a number of police forces in the GTA, including members of the Toronto, Durham and York forces. The sweeps were co-ordinated by the guns-and-gangs task force.

Const. Wendy Drummond, a Toronto police spokeswoman, said 30 warrants were executed, half in Toronto, with the rest in the GTA and other surrounding areas.

Police searched one residence on Bellair Street in Toronto's upscale Yorkville district, where heavily armed emergency task force officers burst into a condominium building at around 5 a.m. ET and took a man away in handcuffs.

Those arrested were taken to 23 Division, in the city's north end.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, during a visit to Huntsville, Ont., was asked about the recent killings in Toronto, as well as Thursday's raids.

He said the federal government has taken steps to reduce violent crime.

"We just recently adopted new measures, both to impose mandatory prison sentences for serious gun crimes and also to reduce bail opportunities for those who are charged with gun crimes," said Harper. "But obviously, we recognize that more needs to be done."

Toronto police say they release more information at a news conference Friday.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/sto...gta-sweep.html

[radiometer]

It's pretty obvious what sort of operation this was. Several hundred thousand nasty doses of meth-laden Ecstasy have been stopped from distribution. Good on 'em! Throw the book at these peddlers of fake-ass drugs.

[Euphoric]

You were right radiometer:

Massive raid nets guns, drugs

Cross-border `pipeline' busted in police sweep involving officers from all parts of GTA
Jun 20, 2008 04:30 AM


Handguns destined for Toronto streets were swapped for drugs in a lucrative Canada-U.S. "pipeline" run by a sophisticated, white-collar organized crime network, Toronto police said yesterday.

Black-market Viagra, cocaine and guns were seized and 27 arrests were made by police in a massive sweep of communities across the city and the GTA yesterday.

Officers and Emergency Task Force members raided residences on well-to-do Bellair St. in Yorkville, as well as in the Yonge St. and Sheppard Ave. area, as part of the crackdown.

"We are shocked by the extent of the criminal enterprise that we have uncovered in this investigation," said Toronto police chief Bill Blair at a media conference held after the raids yesterday.

"It is most certainly a source of a vast number of the illegal handguns that have been making their way on to the streets of Toronto, that have caused so much death and destruction and fear in our communities," he said.

The announcement came as the city reeled from recent bouts of shocking gun violence, including the murder of Dylan Ellis and Oliver Martin last Friday. A funeral for Martin was held earlier yesterday.

Fourteen people have been killed by gun violence in Toronto so far in 2008.

The case against the multinational crime ring began to unravel in 2006 when U.S. law enforcement tipped off Waterloo Regional Police that a cache of 237 handguns, originating from a retailer in the Chicago area, had been smuggled into the country.

Guns came in at the border between Detroit and Windsor, police said.

Waterloo police informed both the Toronto Police Guns and Gangs Task Force and the Provincial Weapons Enforcement Unit, who discovered that a Canadian crime ring was involved in the manufacture and distribution of vast quantities of drugs aimed at both the American and Canadian markets.

The crime network manufactured large quantities of crystal meth, ecstasy and hydroponic marijuana, trading the Canadian-made drugs for guns, cocaine and cash from the U.S.

"The connection between guns and drugs is well known to us," said Blair. "But we've never seen it on this scale."

Many of the handguns coming from the U.S. were destined for sale to drug traffickers and violent street gangs in Toronto.

The guns sell for $1,500 to $3,000 each on the street, according to Toronto police Staff Inspector Greg Getty.

Blair emphasized the crime network was high-level and multinational. Police said they would release more information about its members in the following days.

"This is not a street gang," he said. "This is a highly organized and highly successful criminal enterprise."

The vastness of the crime network led to the genesis of Project Blackhawk in 2006, a sweeping investigation involving officers from every corner of the GTA.

Approximately 50,000 pills of black-market Viagra, 47 guns, large quantities of cocaine, heroin and marijuana and 18 vehicles – some equipped with secret compartments for hiding and transporting guns and drugs – were seized in yesterday's pre-dawn raids.

Eighty-two guns have been seized over the course of the investigation.

More arrests are expected, police said.

Canada seems to have become something of a destination for traffickers seeking certain drugs.

"What this investigation has proven is that Toronto and Canada (have) become a manufacturer of methamphetamine and ecstasy both for domestic consumption as well as export to the United States," said Blair.

Ecstasy pills found in the investigation – 400,000 were seized in one earlier raid – had higher than normal amounts of crystal meth in them.

Police believe this makes the ecstasy more dangerous, potentially sneaking up on users who don't perceive ecstasy as an addictive substance.

Those arrested yesterday will appear in court today.

http://www.thestar.com/article/446529

Notice how they say that ecstasy pills normally contain crystal meth? I wonder if this is true. Or maybe its just scare journalism, where by saying normal they mean none, but that is just a detail.

[cra$h]

http://www.ecstasydata.org/results.php
really interesting site. It's "E" that the coppers got, and tested for what's really inside. surprizing amounts of ketamine, and of course meth.

and to get closer on topic- at first swim didn't think that they were making bad E, but now that it's been mentioned, kind of glad they got caught. Plus, swim had no idea that there would be an underground viagra market. I guess that's supposed to go with the E. And swim hates seeing guns involved in the drug community. It's a shame that people need to protect themselves, but that's a whole nother topic

[Panthers007]

Putting people into a K-Hole, while all peaced-out on MDMA - and turn them into maniacal speed-freaks would serve a good purpose: Show the world that MDMA is a bad, bad, bad drug!

So where is the "chemist" behind this concoction? Fort Dietrich, Maryland? Or Langley, Virginia? If we don't prosecute the war, there is a chance that peace might break-out! Kill! Kill! Kill!