|
An off-duty Durham police officer is among 30 people arrested across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) as part of a large street-level drug investigation.
The 38-year-old officer is facing 10 criminal charges in relation to Project Lodestar, an investigation that began in March.
The Durham Gun and Gang Enforcement Unit focused their efforts on cocaine trafficking and other street-level drug transactions in Oshawa. The project came to a head recently when nine search warrants were executed across the GTA.
It was during that time that police seized four weapons from the officer’s home. They were privately owned by the officer, police say, but were not stored securely.
Over the past two weeks, the Gun and Gang Enforcement Unit executed a total of 30 search warrants in the GTA with the help of the OPP and police services in Toronto, York and Peel. To date, investigators have seized more than $300,000 in drugs (including cocaine, marijuana, OxyContin and steroids), five guns, six vehicles and over $800,000 in cash.
As part of the investigation, officers went to a home in the Ritson and Taunton Road area of Oshawa on June 12. It was at this residence where they arrested the off-duty constable, who now faces multiple charges including, trafficking in a controlled substance, conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance, Four counts of unsafe storage of a firearm, attempting to obstruct justice, possession of stolen property, fraud under $5,000 and breach of trust.
The constable has been with Durham police since January 1998 and has now been suspended from duty. She had been working in the Centralized Alternative Response Unit in Whitby.
As of The Oshawa Express’ deadline several others were also facing charges including nine people from Oshawa who face a variety of charges ranging from trafficking to conspiracy to committee the offence of robbery.
Anyone with information about this investigation is asked to contact Detective Sergeant Moote of the Gun and Gang Enforcement Unit at 1-888-579-1520 ext. 5800.
A full list of those charged is available on the Durham Police website at www.drps.ca.
|
