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DurhamCitizen.ca June 21, 2021 7

LARGEST EVER DRUG BUST

IN TORONTO POLICE HISTORY

20 people charged,

$61M worth of drugs seized

TORONTO -- Twenty people are In May, police executed 35 search
facing rafts of charges each and warrants in Toronto and the GTA,
more than $61 million worth of S a r n i a , L o n d o n , G u e l p h ,
cocaine, cr ystal meth and Kitchener, Montreal, Halifax,
marijuana was seized in what Surrey, Calgary and Winnipeg.
Toronto police are calling the They allegedly seized 444
largest drug seizure in the service’s k i l o g ra m s o f co c a i n e , 15 7
history. kilograms of crystal meth, 427
“Project Brisa” allegedly found a kilograms of marijuana and 300
group of smugglers using trap door oxycodone pills.
compartments in tractor-trailers They also found $966,000 in cash
to move up to 100 kilograms of and seized five tractor-trailers and
drugs at a time from Mexico and several other vehicles including a
California to several cities in Mercedes G-Wagon. Investigators
Ontario. also seized one Glock handgun.
The conspirators allegedly moved Watts said the vehicles and cash
large quantities of drugs into will be taken by the Ontario Toronto police announced dozens of arrests in connection with a massive drug bust
Canada via Ontario border gove r n m e n t t h ro u gh c iv i l
on Tuesday morning. Two suspects are still outstanding.
crossings. forfeiture proceedings, while the
Toronto Drug Squad Acting Insp. drugs will be destroyed.
S te ve Wa tt s s a i d t h e t ra p Asked about the significant significantly impact the supply of Several of the tractor trailers and Scott McManus, 38 and William
compartments were extremely amount of marijuana located in illicit drugs in the GTA. other vehicles were modified with Nhan, 23, both of Toronto.
difficult to detect and penetrate. the bust, Watts said there is still a “The social cost that this amount of hydraulic-powered trap door Anyone with information about
“They were sophisticated to the profitable underground market drugs inflicts on society is compartments to move drugs. either suspect is asked to call
point that X-ray (scanning) was o p e n i n C a n a d a d e s p i t e immeasurable.” He commended Twenty people are now in custody, investigators.
not able to penetrate those traps,” legalization. all investigators involved in the and two others are still on the lam. Toronto police say numerous other
he told reporters on Tuesday. “Until you provide a price point operation, which began in Nov. The majority of those charged police services including the
Investigators allege the traps were that is significantly lower, the illicit 2020. “It was strategic, it was reside in Kitchener, Toronto and RCMP, OPP, York Regional Police,
built and installed by a 43-year-old market does exist, and that’s a intelligence-led and it was focused the GTA. They are facing a Montreal police and a number of
British Columbia man who is one reality.” on preventing community harm combined total of 182 criminal provincial and federal agencies
of those charged as part of the Acting Toronto Police Chief Jim and preserving community code charges.The two suspects still assisted them in the investigation.
probe. Ramer said the bust would wellbeing.” outstanding were identified as -ctvnews

CRA audits of ultra-wealthy

Canadians yield zero

prosecutions, convictions

OTTAWA — Data from the Canada largest and most egregious tax Fintrac, said the dearth of criminal shell companies and tax havens “Many of these people are very
Revenue Agency shows its recent cheats. And yet for a small mom- charges is striking. But authorities used by those seeking to stash their highly respected people in the
efforts to combat tax evasion by the and-pop shop if you don’t pay your often lack resources to carry out loot. Canadian establishment.”
super-rich have resulted in zero taxes long enough — two or three pricey, painstaking prosecutions "Those persons who set up those T h e a b s e n c e o f c r i m i n a l
prosecutions or convictions. years — then they will absolutely across international borders and shell companies and trusts in all prosecutions against high-net-
In response to a question tabled in go in and garnish your wages ... can opt instead for hefty non- those jurisdictions, they hear you worth residents comes in an era of
Parliament by NDP MP Matthew because they know you don't have criminal penalties. coming. They know CRA Is after rising wealth inequality, a disparity
Green, the CRA said it referred 44 the ability to take it to court," he "They may have some of the best them," said Kevin Comeau, author laid bare by the COVID-19
cases on individuals whose net said. lawyers fighting, so you may see of a 2019 C.D. Howe report on pandemic.
worth topped $50 million to its “There's a tax code for the ultra- that more in tax court, rather than money laundering. The top one per cent of Canada's
criminal investigations program wealthy ... and then there's a tax convictions," Meunier said of "They can just put in a couple more families hold about 26 per cent of
since 2015. code for the rest of us," Green said. proceedings against the ultra- trusts and companies in other the wealth — some $3 trillion — up
Only two of those cases proceeded "The rich are taking advantage of wealthy. jurisdictions to make the trail from the roughly 14 per cent
to federal prosecutors, with no the holes in our tax system. And "You need a search warrant to go longer at any time. It's a never- e s t i m a te d u n d e r p re v i o u s
charges laid afterward. this Liberal government continues kick in — well we don’t kick in ending rabbit hole." methodology, according to
The lack of prosecutions follows to allow them to do so.” doors, but you knock on them." The Liberal budget in April allotted modelling in a report from
more than 6,770 audits of ultra- The issue is top of mind for federal Often tax evasion boils down to $2.1 million over two years for the parliamentary budget officer Yves
wealthy Canadians over the past six l aw m a ke r s t h i s we e k a s a u n r e p o r t e d i n c o m e s o r Industry Department to launch a Giroux in June 2020.
years. p a r l i a m e n t a r y c o m m i t t e e exaggerated expenses, which can new beneficial ownership registry The same report found that
It also comes amid a roughly 3,000 convenes to discuss the CRA's then be deducted from income by 2025. families with $29.3 million and
per cent increase in spending on attempts to combat tax evasion and declared on tax filings. Comeau, a retired lawyer and more rank among Canada's 0.1 per
the agency's high-net-worth avoidance. Diane Lebouthillier, "It’s not atypical to see individuals m e m b e r o f Tr a n s p a r e n c y cent.
compliance program between 2015 minister of national revenue, is pay out invoices from foreign International Canada’s working Tax evasion — a predicate offence,
and 2019 due to a beefed-up slated to appear before the panel consulting companies. You pay a group on beneficial ownership meaning it forms a component of a
workforce, according to an Tuesday afternoon. million bucks for a specialized transparency, said the registry more serious crime, such as money
O c t o b e r r e p o r t f r o m t h e A spokesman for the minister's report, and the company is a could be a "game changer” for tax laundering — differs categorically
parliamentary budget officer. office referred questions to the consulting firm based in a tax avoidance. from tax avoidance, a legal means
Green said federal authorities CRA, which did not respond h ave n ( wh e re t h e re a l , o r “Even if it is legal, they're not of keeping wealth out of tax
avoid pursuing Canada's biggest immediately to requests for 'beneficial,' owner is hidden from paying their fair share. So there's collectors' hands through clever
tax cheats but go after small comment. view) and basically the company is going to be huge social pressure on accounting. - Christopher Reynolds,
business owners who don't pay Denis Meunier, former deputy owned by the same guy in Canada those persons to unwind those The Canadian Press
their taxes under a "two-tiered d i r e c t o r o f t h e F i n a n c i a l whose business it is," Meunier said. dealings and actually start bringing
system" pocked with "loopholes." Transactions and Reports Analysis It can be extraordinarily tough to their money back to Canada,” he
“The CRA is not pursuing Canada’s Centre of Canada, known as trace money through the warren of said.