By Jack Boland, The Toronto Sun
Project Monarch has dethroned 22 alleged criminals accused of smuggling handguns and illicit drugs across the Canada-US border.
Stemming that flow of drugs and handguns across a section of the border by the St. Clair River is tough enough — and even tougher when your police force has only 11 officers and one boat to guard its vastness.
At York Regional Police headquarters on Wednesday a joint-forces police operation unveiled a cache of 27 handguns, nine kilos of cocaine, 1.9 kilos of fentanyl. 20,000 Xanax pills, 28 grams of heroin (worth $1.3 million) with 22 people in total arrested from London, Brampton, Mississauga and Toronto on more than 400 related charges.
The immense Project Monarch — a 10-month joint-forces operation that started in October 2021 and ended July 28, 2022 — might have not brought the biggest seizures of all time, but it showed police and community partners are doing their part to stem the tide of guns and drugs smuggled into Ontario at any cost.
A strong message was delivered by Chief Charles Sampson of the Walpole Island First Nation, west of Wallaceburg, Ont., to the federal and provincial government to help “combat crime” to make all communities safe.
“We have nine to 11 officers in the field and we have to protect the border, an international border between Canada and the United States,” said Sampson. “Our islands are large and located in the St. Clair River.”
That point of geography in the St. Clair River is less than one kilometer wide from Port Huron, Mich., to Walpole Island First Nation land, where an alleged smuggling ring became part of the focus with 20 of the 27 handguns coming from nearby Michigan , Ohio, and as far as Florida.
“We have one boat and what we need is a whole marine division to do the job effectively,” Sampson said.
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“To Premier (Doug) Ford and Prime Minister (Justin) Trudeau, open up your considerations to flow the necessary adequate financial resources,” Sampson added. “We desperately need enhanced funding to get this job done.”
This all-in effort to adequately “combat crime” and work “hand in hand” with other police forces was observed through Project Monarch.
“It is time to take collective police action and to prevent serious crimes within our communities,” said Sampson. “And to stop the flow of dangerous weapons and firearms through First Nations territories.”
Sampson said if the Walpole Police Service can assist other agencies, they need more physical resources, such as cars and boats to protect the border, and more trained officers to investigate.
Police mentioned that some of the fentanyl was pressed into a pill form, with the pills looking like candies with designs like a VW Beetle car and butterflies.
York Regional Police Insp. Ahmad Salhia said the investigation of a person for trafficking cocaine and fentanyl in London in October 2021 led to the shutting down of the network.
“As the investigation began to progress we identified a fairly robust criminal network surrounding this specific individual,” said Salhia. “Firearms that we believe, and drugs that we believe, were being trafficked here in York Region and across the GTA.”
As for where the Project Monarch name came from, investigators says of the arrested suspects referred to himself as “The King” — ruling over the network.
One of the many handguns on display had a “slide” — the top part of the gun — painted with the “Deadpool” comic book character.
Project Monarch saw officers from York, Peel, London, the OPP Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau and Provincial Weapons Enforcement Unit, Canadian Border Services, US Homeland Security work in conjunction to thwart this guns and drug distribution network.
Investigators also seized $155,242 in Canadian currency and $9,000 in United States currency, as well as five vehicles now associated with proceeds of crime.