GUNS, DRUGS SEIZED IN HUGE BUST

Police Arrest Four People In Kitchener As Part Of Provincewide Sweep
Netting Illegal Firearms Smuggled From U.S. And An Array Of Illicit Drugs

TORONTO

Dozens of early-morning raids across Ontario yesterday have plugged
an extensive pipeline of guns and drugs that flowed directly through
Waterloo Region, police said.

At least 27 people were arrested and 30 search warrants executed in
the operation dubbed Project Blackhawk, which was launched two years
ago after Waterloo Regional Police got a tip from the U.S.

The raids were concentrated in the Greater Toronto Area but extended
as far as Timmins, Guelph and Kitchener. Police seized 47 handguns,
several vehicles modified to hide guns and drugs as well as large
quantities of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and 50,000 counterfeit
Viagra pills. "Quite frankly, we are shocked by the extent of the
criminal organization we have uncovered in this investigation," Chief
Bill Blair of the Toronto Police said.

"It is most certainly a source of a vast number of the illegal
handguns that have made their way onto the streets of Toronto that
have caused so much death and destruction and fear in our
communities," Blair said.

Waterloo Regional Police arrested four people and seized more than 11
kilograms of marijuana, 32 ecstasy tablets and two marijuana plants
after searching a Westforest Trail home in west Kitchener.

A 26-year-old man, the only one of the four connected with the
Blackhawk investigation, was taken to Toronto to be charged. Two men
and a woman were held in custody in Kitchener.

The investigation began when U.S. law enforcement officials tipped
regional police to a cache of 237 handguns that had been smuggled
across the border. The guns originated with a Chicago-area retailer
and came into Canada illegally from Michigan, Blair said.

Investigators contacted Toronto Police and the OPP after it became
apparent the operation extended beyond the region.

"It was obvious (the guns) were not intended just for here, but it's
very concerning that they were in our region," said Staff Sgt. Daryl
Goetz of the Waterloo Regional Police intelligence branch. At least
one gun linked to the original shipment has been used in a local
crime, he said. He wouldn't elaborate.

Goetz declined to give more details about the Kitchener arm of the
operation, citing the continuing investigation.

The three people arrested and being held in Kitchener are expected to
appear in court today.

As police began their investigation in 2006, they found the
organization was not only running guns, it was also manufacturing
massive quantities of drugs.

"What this criminal enterprise is doing is producing illegal
narcotics, hydroponic marijuana, methamphetamine and ecstasy,
shipping it to the United States and returning with illegal
quantities of powdered cocaine, illegal proceeds-of-crime cash as
well as the firearms," Toronto Staff Insp. Greg Getty said, standing
behind 12 of the guns seized during the investigation.

What Blair described as a "dynamic and highly successful criminal
enterprise" has also been linked to a Mississauga drug lab, where
more than $160 million worth of methamphetamines and ecstasy was
seized April 29.

"That lab was the largest manufacturing site of its kind that we have
ever seen in this country," Blair said.

Police would not speak about the alleged roles of those arrested
yesterday or provide other details about how the guns and drugs moved
throughout the province. They also haven't said how many charges have
been laid.

Another news conference was scheduled for this morning in Toronto.