Nearly two dozen people face more than 400 charges after police in Ontario broke up a gun and drug smuggling ring as part of a nearly 10-month-long investigation.
The investigation, revealed by authorities Wednesday, was called Project Monarch and initially began with a probe into one person for drug trafficking. It then spread across southern Ontario and into the U.S., and involved a gun smuggling ring that smuggled firearms across the Canada-U.S. border through Walpole Island First Nation west of Wallaceburg, Ontario
Several other law enforcement agencies were involved, including Homeland Security and police agencies in Ontario.
“Project Monarch was an incredibly complex investigation that shut down a criminal network involved in the distribution of large quantities of illicit drugs and firearms across southern Ontario,” said York Regional Police Service Deputy Chief Brian Bigras.
Police would not say how the guns were brought across the border. Twenty-seven handguns, believed to be from at least three U.S. states, and drugs including cocaine, fentanyl and Xanax pills, were found. The total value of the seized drugs was more than $1.3 million, police said.
Those accused range in age from their 20’s to their late 60’s.
The operation came at a time when Ottawa has taken steps to curb the smuggling and importation of firearms into Canada.
