TORONTO - More than 1,000 charges were laid against 75 members and associates of a Toronto-based gang after police seized guns, drugs and thousands of dollars in cash during a series of early morning raids this week, authorities said Friday.
The arrests have "significantly disrupted" the Five Points Generalz, Toronto police said at a news conference where they displayed dozens of handguns, bags of narcotics and wads of money taken from the gang.
"The individuals arrested in this operation are not simply kids being exploited by gang members, nor are they addicts being used to support their addictions," acting Insp. Don Belanger said. "They are organized criminals, a significant number of whom are no strangers to the criminal justice system."
The raids targeting the street gang, which is allegedly responsible for a number of shootings in the city, came as many Toronto residents demand action to address a recent spate of high-profile gun crime.
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The police sweep, code named Project Patton, resulted in the seizure of $184,000 of illegally earned cash, large amounts of cocaine, fentanyl, carfentanyl, heroin and marijuana, and the largest number of guns ever confiscated at one time by Toronto law enforcement, officers said.
