MISSISSAUGA — Police in Ontario announced three major drug busts on Tuesday, including the largest one in Peel police history.
Peel Regional Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah said nearly a half tonne of cocaine was seized as part of Project Pelican that led to nine arrests.
"This represents a seismic blow to transnational organized crime that is coming right here to Peel," he said Tuesday at a press conference. The podium was framed by tables stacked with bricks of cocaine police say were seized during the investigation.
The investigation started in June 2024 when police say they uncovered a criminal network using commercial trucks to smuggle drugs across the U.S. border into Canada.
In early February, a truck carrying 127 kilograms of cocaine hidden in the trailer was stopped at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, investigators say.
Then last month, police seized another 50 kilograms stashed in a truck stopped at the Blue Water Bridge near Sarnia.
Officials say the investigation led to several other drug seizures across the Greater Toronto Area in connection to commercial trucking, for a total of 479 kilograms.
"This is a significant quantity of drugs that will never make it into our communities," said Abeid Morgan, the director of intelligence and enforcement for the Canadian Border Services Agency's southern Ontario region.
All nine men who have been arrested are from southern Ontario and are between the ages of 27 and 44, police said.
Investigators said most of them had no criminal record.
In a separate announcement Tuesday, Ontario Provincial Police said two drug investigations led to the seizure of 43.5 kilograms of fentanyl.
OPP say an 11-month investigation into a drug trafficking network across southern Ontario netted 38 kilograms, the service's largest fentanyl seizure. Another five-month investigation aimed to dismantle an operation using a so-called "dark web marketplace" to ship drugs across Canada.
The OPP noted there's "no indication" the fentanyl was destined for the United States or any other country.
"I don't want us to be distracted by the narrative of fentanyl going from Canada into the U.S., and take away from the significant public safety concern around fentanyl," said OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique.
— With files from Rianna Lim.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2025.
Maan Alhmidi and Jordan Omstead, The Canadian Press
