Provincial Guns and Gangs Enforcement Team lays 197 charges from Sudbury to the GTA

From the Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau

Twenty-five individuals, many from the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), are facing a combined 197 charges under the Criminal Code and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act following a 16-month investigation.

In January 2024, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), Provincial Guns and Gangs Enforcement Team (PGNG), and the Greater Sudbury Police Service (GSPS) Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU) began Project SATURATE to investigate drug trafficking in the Greater Sudbury area and surrounding communities.

The investigative team identified two street gangs based in the GTA involved in alleged trafficking of controlled substances, including fentanyl and cocaine, to northeastern Ontario.

On Thursday, May 8, 2025, six search warrants were executed in Sudbury, Mississauga and Hamilton by the PGNG investigative team along with members from:

• GSPS Integrated Crime Team
• GSPS Emergency Response Unit
• OPP Tactics and Rescue Unit (TRU)
• OPP Community Street Crime Units (CSCU) from West and Central regions
• OPP Emergency Response Team (ERT)
• OPP Highway Enforcement Team (HET)
• OPP Provincial Weapons Enforcement Unit (PWEU)
• OPP Provincial Asset Forfeiture Unit (PAFU)
• OPP Digital Forensics
• Peel Regional Police Tactics and Rescue Unit
• Hamilton Police Service Emergency Response Unit

On Thursday, May 29, 2025, an additional 14 search warrants were executed in Sudbury, Mississauga, Richmond Hill, Pickering and Toronto by members from:

• OPP PGNG
• GSPS Integrated Crime Team
• GSPS Emergency Response Unit
• OPP Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau (OCEB)
• OPP CSCU from North East, Central and West regions
• OPP TRU
• OPP ERT
• OPP HET
• OPP PWEU
• OPP Provincial Auto Theft and Towing Team
• OPP PAFU
• Mississauga and 407 OPP detachments
• OPP HET
• OPP Digital Forensics
• Toronto Police Service Emergency Task Force
• York Regional Police Emergency Response Unit

Twenty-two individuals were arrested. Arrest warrants have been issued for the three additional individuals. Further details relating to the accused and their respective charges can be found within the attached Addendum of Charged Persons.

As a result of Project SATURATE, the following items were seized with approximate quantities:

• Four firearms
• 12 kg suspected cocaine
• 7.3 kg suspected fentanyl
• 164 g suspected methamphetamine
• 2,448 oxycodone tablets
• 1,010 suspected methamphetamine tablets
• Other prescription medications
• 8 kg cannabis
• Two prohibited devices
• $259,000 in Canadian currency
• $1,210 in US currency
• 21 cell phones
• Two laptops
• Digital scales
• One vehicle as offence-related property
• One boat as proceeds of crime

The estimated street value of the drugs seized is more than $1.9 million.

Anyone with any information about illegal firearms or the possession, manufacturing or trafficking of illicit drugs should contact the OPP at 1-888-310-1122 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or ontariocrimestoppers.ca.

“This quantity of drugs seized in a community like Sudbury is significant. We also seized four firearms, which supports notion that the presence of street gangs brings the potential for gun violence. The OPP will continue to work with our municipal partners like the Greater Sudbury Police Service to stem the flow of illegal drugs and firearms and dismantle the criminal networks and street gangs that have proliferated in these communities,” according to OPP Acting Detective Superintendent Andy Bradford, Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau.

You can find a list of those charged HERE (pdf).

PGNG MANDATE

Street gangs are migrating across Ontario which has resulted in an increase of illegal drugs and firearms entering communities. The OPP-led PGNG is dedicated to disrupting criminal street gang activity through intelligence-led, multijurisdictional drug trafficking investigations and reducing the number of illegal firearms in the province of Ontario. The PGNG is comprised of members from 20 police services in both Ontario and Quebec as well as the RCMP.

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