While 20 people were arrested within the operation, nearly half them were of Indian-origin.
The operation, called Project Brisa (Spanish for breeze), lasted almost six months, after investigations commenced in November last year. Over a 1,000kg of illegal drugs were seized, including 444kg of cocaine, 182kg of crystal meth, 427kg of marijuana, and 300 oxycodone pills. Police also seized 21 vehicles, including five tractor-trailers, 966,020 Canadian dollars in cash and a firearm.
The tractor-trailers were getting used to move drugs between Mexico, the us and Canada. Multiple enforcement agencies participated within the operation, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Ontario Provincial Police, York Regional Police, Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), Windsor Police Service, Montreal Police, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, while Canadian police collaborated with the us Department of Homeland Security and therefore the us Drug Enforcement Administration.
Of those arrested, nine are of Indian-origin: Gurbakhash Singh Grewal, 37, of Brampton, Amarbir Singh Sarkaria, 25, of Caledon, Harbaljit Singh Toor, 46, of Caledon, Harwinder Bhullar, 43, of Caledon, Sarjant Singh Dhaliwal, 37, of Kitchener, Gurveer Dhaliwal, 26, of Kitchener, Gurmanpreet Grewal, 26, of Kitchener, Sukhwant Brar, 37, of Brampton and Parminder Gill, 33, of Brampton.
“The removal of this quantity of medicine destined for the streets of our respective communities has without question prevented countless overdoses, acts of drug-related violence like shootings, and other occurrences that diminish the standard of life for our citizens,” Toronto captain James Ramer said.
“When such networks are operating across three countries, Canada, the US and Mexico, ongoing collaboration between agencies, including CBSA is significant ,” York Regional captain Jim MacSween said.
The name for the operation was derived from the primary seizure, when Toronto police’s drug squad raided a tractor-trailer carrying a consignment of hair dryers.
This follows another major bust announced in April this year. In an operation dubbed Project Cheetah, enforcement led by the York Regional Police arrested and charged over twenty-four people and seized about 2.3 million Canadian dollars ($1.86 million) worth of medicine including 10kg of cocaine, 8kg of ketamine, 3kg of heroin and a couple of .5kg of opium. Investigators also seized 48 firearms and 730,000 in Canadian currency ($592,588). Of the 27 arrested, 23 had roots in Punjab.
