GANGS, DRUGS AND GUNS

Over the past two days, Greater Sudbury Police, with the help of the
OPP, have arrested 166 people as part of Project Northbound -- a
strategy to rid the city of gangs, guns and drugs that have travelled
north to the community.

Police Chief Frank Elsner revealed the outcome of the operation, which
began in March, at a press conference Friday.

Laid out on the table were the four weapons seized -- a shotgun, two
revolvers and a semi-automatic weapon -- a bag of cash, one filled
with crack and another with cocaine.

The drugs found through the execution of the seven search warrants
amounted to almost $400,000.

"Project Northbound was focused on identifying individuals and
criminal organizations responsible for importation and distribution of
illegal drugs within the City of Greater Sudbury," Elsner said.

"As a result of this investigation, we have confirmed our belief that
organized crime activity originated in southern and eastern Ontario
and these individuals are travelling to our community."

Elsner said the majority of those arrested are in their teens and
early 20s, although older men and women were also netted in the sweep.
Gang activity has picked up over the past 1 1/2 years in the city, as
drug dealers vie to fill the gap left by the Hell Angels, who were
ousted by police three years ago, he said.

Not all of the 166 people picked up in this sweep are known to each
other. Project Northbound primarily targeted three gangs operating in
the Sudbury areas.

"But for our purposes, we're confident to state that 33 of the people
arrested were known gang members or associates for the (Greater
Toronto) or Ottawa areas," said Elsner.

"At present, there is no indication of any local gangs."

Police would not reveal the name of the gangs. However, last March
when $480,000 from the Provincial Anti-violence Intervention Strategy
was announced for Sudbury, then-police chief Ian Davidson named three
gangs whose members were active in the city: the Bloods, Cripz and
Mara Salvatrucha 13 (MS-13).

"We don't want a gang presence in our community," Elsner said
yesterday. "We wanted to ensure we took the welcome mat away.

"In the GTA area, they've been at the guns and gangs for the last
three years ... It's becoming hard to do business. So, they're trying
to find greener pastures."

Police are being aggressive to prevent such gangs from gaining a
foothold in the city, he said.

While it took more than 100 officers knocking on doors early in the
morning to bring all 166 suspects to the station, the project itself
involved the efforts of about 12 to 15 Sudbury officers working daily
for the past nine months.

An undercover officer, a weapons specialist and a couple others from
the Ontario Provincial Police joined them.

Commander Tim Millar, of the OPP's organized criminal enforcement
bureau north, described Project Northbound as being of average size.

It was "very successful as demonstrated by the numbers," he said. "We
had similar numbers recently in Parry Sound ... We try to keep an eye
on the North and take a proactive drug enforcement approach."

In terms of the weapons seized, the four turned up in the Sudbury
sweep are typical of those used in the drug trade.

However, compared to Toronto drug dealers, fewer in the North seem to
carry guns.

"In the North, we don't have the weapons they have down south. With
the southern units, they're coming across guns all the time," Millar
said. "There's a little bit more reserve, I think, up here by the
criminals to carry them."

Funded by the Provincial Anti-violence Intervention Strategy, the
program is designed to create specialized rapid response police teams
to deal with illegal gang, drug and weapons activities. In 2007, more
than a dozen police services across Ontario received a total of $6
million from the province to launch PAVIS-style programs of their own.

Then in June, Community Safety and Correctional Services Minister --
and Sudbury MPP -- Rick Bartolucci announced the province was
providing another $8.9 million to continue the project until early
2011.

As part of Project Northbound, Greater Sudbury Police will host an
educational awareness forum in February with partners to illustrate
the current gang situation in the city in order to develop a youth
strategy with three essential components -- prevention, intervention
and suppression.

Then in April, police will collaborate with local boards and community
agencies to talks to kids in an attempt to demystify the lure of gang
membership.

"The goal of this ongoing initiative is to partner with community
organizations to address evolving gang presence and related criminal
activity within our community," Elsner said.

"We believe education is the key to success. It's a multi-pronged
approach we're taking here."

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Project Northbound

A total of 166 people charged.

So far, 213 Criminal Code charges have been laid, 342 Controlled Drug
and Substance Act charges and 30 individuals arrested on outstanding
warrants.

Drugs seized: 1,558 grams of cocaine, 598 grams of crack cocaine,
1,840 oxycontin pills, 342 grams of marijuana. The total value of the
drugs is $397,161.

Weapons seized: Three restricted weapons and one stolen
firearm.

Other property seized: six vehicles and $236,000 in Canadian
currency.

During the entire operation, seven search warrants were
executed.

Warrants for 14 individuals are outstanding.