Peel Regional Police announced Wednesday the details of an 11-month-long cross-border investigation that dismantled what they referred to as an "intricate international drug trafficking enterprise."
In what is the largest drug bust in the force's history, police said they seized drugs with a street value of more than $25 million.
Police said that in all, a combined 386 kilograms of methamphetamine, cocaine, and ketamine were taken off the streets.
The investigation dubbed Project Zucaritas was carried out by members of the Peel Regional Police Specialized Enforcement Bureau with help from U.S. Homeland Security Investigations in Detroit and Chicago, and the Border Enforcement Security Task Force in Buffalo.
This work first began in November 2021, when police said persons of interest related to the illegal distribution of drugs in the GTA were identified.
Investigators went on to uncover a drug-tracking enterprise where commercial trucking businesses were being used to transport drugs from the United States into Canada and across the GTA and Peel Region.
Police have since charged five men.
Peel Police identify five men charged in Project Zucaritas.Peel Regional Police
- Khalilullah Amin, 46, from Caledon has been charged with two counts of trafficking in controlled substances.
- Jaspreet Singh, 28, from Brampton has been charged with one count of trafficking in a controlled substance, and one count of possession of property obtained by crime.
- Wray Ip, 27, from Richmond Hill has been charged with four counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking.
- Ravinder Boparai, 27, from Mississauga has been charged with one count of possession of property obtained by crime, and one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking.
- Gurdeep Gakhal, 38, from Caledon has been charged with one count of trafficking in a controlled substance
This value of drugs seized in this investigation brings the total value of drugs Peel Regional Police have taken off the streets in 2022 above $40 million.
"We will not tolerate criminals who profit by preying on people in our community and using those profits to finance other criminal activities," said Peel Police Deputy Chief Nick Milinovich.
The investigative work was also praised by Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie.
Crombie called the work "a major blow against organized crimeand international drug trafficking".