OFFICER IS HELD OVER BOGUS DRUG RAIDS

Real And Fake Police ID Seized With Guns, Cash

A Toronto police officer and six other men face a slew of charges stemming
from a series of fake police drug shakedowns and home invasion robberies in
Toronto and York Region.

Constable Darin Cooper, a 10-year member of the Toronto force assigned to 55
Division's criminal investigation bureau, has been suspended with pay. He
spent last night in jail, along with six co-accused arrested after six
search warrants were executed in the Toronto area yesterday and Thursday.

The charges include attempted murder, breach of trust, impersonating police,
armed robbery, conspiracy, possession of a controlled substance, possession
of unregistered restricted weapons, assault, break and enter, and possession
of property obtained by crime.

Among the items seized by officers from both Toronto and York Region were a
real Toronto police badge, fake police identification, body armour, 25
handguns, one of which was issued by the Toronto force, $130,000 cash, six
luxury vehicles and 25 pounds of marijuana valued at $125,000.

"This is a dark day for policing," said Toronto police Chief Julian Fantino,
who was made aware of the investigation while he still headed the York
force.

"It's an exception when a police officer is arrested."

Having to suspend Cooper with pay clearly drew Fantino's ire.

"I don't think it's right that I have to continue his pay," the new chief
said. "It's a fundamental issue of fairness," he added, vowing to seek a
change in provincial law to allow a chief to suspend officers without pay
when they are in jail on serious criminal charges.

Police say more arrests and charges are expected, perhaps within a week.

Although York Region police called a news conference to announce the
arrests, investigators remained tight-lipped about the alleged robbery ring.

Police would not say how many robberies there were, when they began, where
they happened, who was targeted, what was taken or how they were carried
out.

But police sources have told The Star the charges relate to drug rip-offs
and recent home invasions - a crime Fantino crusaded against while chief in
York Region.

One of the robberies took place in York, with the rest, an undetermined
number, in Toronto, say the sources.

The crimes were carried out by suspects posing as police officers in most
cases, say the sources. One source described the group's operations as "big
time," involving large amounts of funds and equipment.

According to the police sources, undercover teams set up surveillance on a
police constable. The constable and several other individuals were followed
in an operation that began in January. Arrests were made during a series of
overnight raids yesterday in Toronto and Durham Region.

The raids were staged after police observed an incident where a quantity of
cash and marijuana were stolen after armed suspects threatened a drug
dealer, the sources said. The evidence seized by police included a real
Toronto police badge, along with a Toronto police-issue semi-automatic Glock
pistol and bulletproof vest.

York police Constable Doug Conley said the seized cash and the six luxury
vehicles seized over the past couple of days relate to the possession of
property obtained by crime charges. He added, "there's absolutely more
charges that are going to be coming."

Pushed for more details on the charges, Conley said: "It will come out in
the near future. The reason that we did the (news conference) was to get the
information out there that there was a cop involved, because obviously
rumours start fairly quickly."

Police would not say what led to the joint forces investigation, but Conley
said investigators from both forces' holdup squads began looking into the
robberies early this year.

Others arrested are: Bobby Manchev, 31, Elie Salama, 24, Peter Maroulis, 29,
Nick Koulias, 29, and Mike Wassilyn, 27, all of Toronto, and Kristopher
Della-Pia, 22, of no fixed address. The seven suspects appeared in a
Newmarket court yesterday afternoon and were ordered held in custody pending
a bail hearing.