Vicious gang planned murder of law enforcement worker; 17 charged
2hours ago
TORONTO — Police in Toronto have charged 17 alleged members and associates of a notorious international gang that officers say was plotting to kill a member of the criminal justice system.
Toronto and Halton Regional police executed 22 search warrants, made 17 arrests and laid 63 charges after a five-month investigation into the gang known as MS-13, which has an estimated worldwide membership of more than 60,000.
More detailed information about the individual who was allegedly targeted by the gang was not immediately released to protect the ongoing investigation, as well as the safety of the unnamed target and the public, police told a news conference Thursday.
The targeting of law enforcement officials is a typical practice of MS-13, also known as Mara Salvatrucha - a Central and South American gang that has infiltrated the United States and has activity in Canada.
"We uncovered (the plot) during our investigation and as a result the arrests were effected (Wednesday)," said Staff Insp. Greg Getty.
Four men - Jorge Salas, Luis Salas-Reyes, Hector Sanhueza and Ronald Moratay-Cruz, all of Toronto - are charged with conspiracy to commit murder.
Charges against 13 others include drug trafficking, obstructing police, possession of counterfeit money and numerous firearms and weapons offences.
Those charged range in age from 19 to 46. All are from Toronto, according to a police release.
Members of the gang are allegedly implicated in the distribution of drugs and firearms and have been linked to several violent robberies.
Police seized 6.5 kilograms of cocaine, prohibited weapons - including a sawed off shotgun - and more than $40,000 in what police described as the "proceeds of crime."
Toronto police Chief William Blair said the gang's activities in Canada have been monitored for years, but the investigation leading to Wednesday's crackdown marks the first time the gang was seen as attempting to organize.
"We have seen members of MS-13 in municipalities across Canada engaged in some types of criminal activity - robbery, drug trafficking, firearms offences, assault against police," Blair said.
"But this is the first investigation that has revealed the organization of a clique of the MS-13, where the members identified themselves as members of that gang, where there is some leadership within the clique itself."
Police are working with other police departments and federal authorities, as well as agencies in the United States, Central America and South America, to monitor and control the gang, he added.
Blair said the gang doesn't have national leadership and tends to structure itself around local leaders in a cell, or clique, formation.
"What we saw emerging here in this investigation here in Toronto was one of those cliques," he said. "And so we have dismantled that clique by cutting off its head and arresting the people responsible for its organization."
He said he believes police have effectively stopped the Toronto-based cell, but that Canada remains exposed to the threat of MS-13.
"Given their history of violence and transnational nature, their disregard for borders, their propensity to use violence particularly against participants in the criminal justice system and in an attempt to intimidate witnesses and communities, their threat remains a significant one here in Canada."
Canada's borders and criminal justice system is vulnerable to gang infiltration, he said, noting that many of those charged came to Canada as refugees from Central America.
Police are working with border services to establish backgrounds on some of those charged, many of whom entered Canada from the U.S.
Authorities say they will continue to monitor the gang's activities both in Toronto and across the country so it cannot gain a strong local foothold.
No comments:
Post a Comment