Bail Compliance Arrest Leads to Guns

Teamwork by several Toronto Police Service investigative units disrupted gang activity leading to gun seizures.

“Our officers know who the active gangs are and who is most likely to engage in gun violence,” said Public Safety Response Unit (PSRT) Inspector Don Theriault. “In this instance, they leveraged technology and collected evidence to arrest two individuals who were armed with the illegal guns that we are seeing all too often taking the lives of young men across Toronto."

Last September, PSRT members received information from the Integrated Gun and Gang Task Force that a gang member would be attending a vigil and there was concern that there was going to be retaliation.

On house arrest with an ankle bracelet to monitor his locations for alleged multiple drug and firearm charges, police determined the man was failing to comply with his court conditions after reviewing security cameras.

During his arrest for failing to comply, he was alleged to be in possession of fentanyl and cash. During the investigation, he was seen meeting another man who was identified as another gang member.

The PSRT contacted the 32 Division Major Crime Unit and, during observations of the second man, it was determined he was allegedly selling drugs. Seeing grounds for an arrest, the Emergency Task Force was called upon to execute a search warrant and arrested three people.

During the search, police located three Glock handguns, two of them fully loaded, and a backpack with an assault rifle inside a bedroom closet.

Also seized were 430 grams of fentanyl with an estimated street value over $94,000, 52 grams of heroin with an estimated street value over $9,000 and 987 grams crystal meth with an estimated street value over $23,000.