Loaded gun, cocaine seized by cops in northern Ontario; Mississauga man charged

A Mississauga man faces numerous weapons and drug trafficking charges after police in Thunder Bay seized a loaded gun in addition to amounts of suspected cocaine and fentanyl.

The arrest was made on Oct. 1, just over a month after a police task force that targets street gangs in northern Ontario started looking into “an increase in drug trafficking activity” in the northwestern Ontario city located on the shores of Lake Superior.

Ontario Provincial Police said officers with the OPP-led Provincial Joint Forces Guns and Gangs Enforcement Team, who began their investigation in August, arrested a man in the Cumberland Street area of Thunder Bay.

Police said officers found a loaded handgun inside the pocket of a man. They also discovered 85 grams of suspected fentanyl, 35 grams of suspected cocaine and $4,000 in cash.

Michael Perruccio, 33, of Mississauga, is charged with:

• possession for the purpose of trafficking — cocaine
• possession for the purpose of trafficking — fentanyl
• unauthorized possession of a restricted firearm
• careless storage of a firearm
• knowledge of unauthorized possession of a firearm
• possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose
• possession of a loaded restricted firearm
• possession of proceeds obtained by crime under $5,000

He was remanded into custody and is scheduled to appear in Thunder Bay court on Friday.

The Provincial Joint Forces Guns and Gangs Enforcement Team, comprised of officers from 20 police forces in Ontario and Quebec, was created to “disrupt criminal street gang activity through intelligence-led, multijurisdictional drug trafficking investigations,” police said earlier.

The unit, which also includes RCMP officers, also seeks to reduce the number of illegal guns that wind up in the hands of gang members and others.

“Street gangs are migrating to communities across Ontario and this has resulted in an increase in the number of illegal firearms entering our communities,” OPP said earlier.

Anyone with information about illegal firearms or the possession, manufacturing or trafficking of illicit drugs should contact the OPP at 1-888-310-1122 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477.

(Cover photo: OPP)