Police in Niagara Region have arrested 30 people and seized a quantity of drugs, weapons, cash and stolen vehicles following a months-long joint forces investigation into what they describe as a “criminal network” that was “operating across local, provincial and international jurisdictions.”
The investigation, dubbed ‘Project Road King,’ began in August 2024, after police say that they received information about drug trafficking in Niagara Region.
However, police say that by April of this year the scope of the investigation “expanded significantly” and other police forces from the Greater Toronto Area were brought in to assist, as well as the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency.
Police say that a dozen search warrants were executed across Niagara, Hamilton, and Toronto on Sept. 9.
Investigators say that a total of 38 stolen vehicles were recovered, with those vehicles valued at more than $3.3 million.
Some of the vehicles, police say, were intercepted at shipping points and were “already secured in containers and destined for international export to places such as Nigeria and Vietnam.”
Others, police say, had altered vehicle identification numbers that made determining their “true identity” difficult.
Police also seized a large quantity of other illicit goods as part of the investigation, including 12.25 kilograms of suspected cocaine with a estimated street value of $245,000 and 20 guns.
Police say that the stolen vehicles were taken from Hamilton, Halton Region, Peel Region, York Region, Toronto, Simcoe and the Guelph area.
“Organized crime groups do not respect municipal, provincial, or even international boundaries,” Niagara Police Chief Bill Fordy said during a news conference.
“Collaboration is not optional in modern policing, its essential.”
Decline in auto theft across Ontario
Fordy said that several of the stolen vehicles seized by police had previously been involved in pursuits that were discontinued for safety reasons after their drivers fled at “dangerously high speeds.”
He said that investigators learned of the connection to the aborted pursuits only after reviewing a multi-jurisdictional police database, which revealed that the vehicles had been identified by “several agencies” across the GTA.
“This is not just reckless, it puts lives at risk both for our members and for the public,” he told reporters.
Fordy said that more than 200 officers were eventually brought into the fold to participate in the “takedowns” across the GTHA on Sept. 9.
He suggested that a large police presence was required due to the presence of firearms at some of the locations.
“Firearms pose the greatest threat to our officers and to the community,” he said. “Anytime we are alive to the potential for a firearm to be involved in an investigation like this we proceed with the most appropriate response we can because we recognize the potential for violence and death.”
The Greater Toronto Hamilton Area has been struggling with a rash of auto thefts, with reports coming from across different jurisdictions besides Niagara. Project Egypt saw Durham police arrest five people in relation to at least 33 stolen vehicles last month and in March Halton police arrested eight suspects who were charged with a combined 90 offences as part of Project Mulligan. Officers alleged that the suspects were casing hotel parking lots and had stolen over 75 vehicles to sell overseas.
However, auto thefts saw a significant drop in the first half of the year compared to the record highs seen in 2024. The Canadian Press reported a 25.9 per cent drop in Ontario compared to the first half of the year. They reported on 9,600 cases of auto theft from the beginning of the year to the end of July.
Police say that the 30 suspects taken into custody are facing a combined 213 charges.
All but three of the suspects have since been released from custody under various conditions, police say.
Police say that the investigation remains ongoing and that “further charges are anticipated.”
For a full list of the accused parties and the charges they are facing follow this link.
With files from the Canadian Press
