71 seized guns would’ve been used in carjackings, home invasions in Mississauga, Brampton and across Ontario: cops

Dozens of guns smuggled into Canada from the U.S. believed to be destined for use in home invasions, carjackings and other violent crimes in Mississauga, Brampton and across the GTA have been seized in what cops say is the largest-ever illegal firearms bust in Peel.

“These firearms were destined for our communities and would’ve been used countless times in home invasions, carjackings, extortions (and other violent crimes),” Peel Regional Police Deputy Chief Nick Milinovich said Wednesday morning at a press conference at police headquarters in Mississauga.

Laid out before police brass from several law enforcement agencies were 71 confiscated guns — 67 handguns, four assault-style rifles — and about $1 million in seized cocaine and fentanyl in addition to $25,000 in cash.

Of the nearly six dozen guns seized as a result of the 10-month joint-forces investigation led by Peel cops and dubbed Project Chrome, 69 were smuggled into Canada via Detroit, police said.

Police revealed 10 people — three from Toronto and others from Mississauga, Brampton, Hamilton, London, Thornhill, Vaughan and Leamington — were arrested during numerous search warrants executed on June 18 by some 100 officers across the GTA, southern Ontario and in Detroit.

They face a total of 185 charges, police said.

“This is the largest number of firearms seized in a single investigation in Peel Regional Police history,” Peel police Chief Nishan Duraiappah told reporters, adding gun violence “poses a grave risk to our community and has tragic consequences.”

Pointing to the confiscated weapons before him, he continued: “These firearms will not be used to rob a person, terrorize them in their homes or commit another violent crime.”

Peel Regional Police Det. Sgt. Earl Scott, lead investigator on Project Chrome, speaks to reporters on Wednesday.

Peel Det. Sgt. Earl Scott, lead investigator for Project Chrome, said taking such a large number of illegal guns off the street has “a significant impact on our community.”

He said while the sweeping investigation that utilized law enforcement agencies in both Canada and the U.S. began last September, its roots go back to January 2023.

At that time, he told reporters, police in Peel identified a local street gang that was involved in weapons and drugs.

Further investigation revealed gang members were bringing guns into Canada via Detroit and that the weapons would surely be used by those who wound up with them to carry out home invasions, carjackings, extortions and other types of robberies and violent crimes in communities across the GTA.

A number of the guns seized during Project Chrome. (Photo: Peel Regional Police)

Describing the police probe as complex, Milinovich said “access to illegal firearms has become too prevalent” in Mississauga, Brampton and other communities across the GTA and southern Ontario.

He noted nearly 100 per cent of carjackings and home invasions in Peel are carried out using illegal guns that have been smuggled into Canada from the U.S.

Duraiappah said the gun problem is worsening on this side of the border. Peel cops have seized nearly 200 firearms so far in 2024, he noted, adding “if you do the math, that’s one a day.”

In addition, the police chief said, there have been about the same number of shootings so far this year in Peel as there were in all of 2023.

“About 500 rounds of ammunition have been discharged in our region (in 2024),” he said.

Other law enforcement agencies involved in Project Chrome were Homeland Security and the ATF in the U.S. and OPP in addition to the Canada Border Services Agency and forces in Toronto, Durham, Halton and York on this side of the border.