Seven-month Project Folkstone leads to arrests and charges.
Guns recovered from Project Folkstone.
Photo/TORONTO POLICE SERVICE
Police have made 22 arrests and laid more than 250 charges following a seven-month investigation into a cross-border gun smuggling operation.
The probe, dubbed Project Folkstone, was conducted by the OPP-led Provincial Weapons Enforcement Unit.
Police allege a criminal organization was smuggling guns into Canada from the U.S. in addition to trafficking drugs such as cocaine, heroin and marijuana.
Officers executed 28 search warrants at homes and businesses in the GTA and in Windsor.
More than 15 illegal guns, $400,000 in cocaine, $75,000 in marijuana and a quantity of cash were seized.
"The illegal smuggling and selling of guns by organized crime groups poses a grave danger to innocent people in our communities and is frequently associated with the illegal drug trade," OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino said in a news release.
Toronto Police, York Regional Police, Windsor Police, the Canada Border Services Agency and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives took part in the investigation.