Twenty people including several Indo-Canadians  are facing rafts of charges each and more than $61 million worth of cocaine, crystal meth and marijuana was seized in what Toronto police are calling the largest drug seizure in the service’s history.

According to the daily Toronto Sun’s report, the Toronto Police made the biggest drug seizure in its history after seizing 1,000 kg. of drugs worth $61 million, $1-million in cash, and arresting 20 people — including a minor — all allegedly involved in a sophisticated international drug smuggling operation.

“It is the first time we have seen something at this level of sophistication,” said Toronto Police Chief James Ramer in a press conference announcing the bust on Tuesday.

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Canadian law enforcement agencies  launched the operation  dubbed Project Brisa — began November 2020 and ended with a major seizure May 10. The six-month investigation involved the cooperation of at least ten agencies, including York Regional Police, the OPP, RCMP, Canada Border Services, US Homeland Security, and the US Drug Enforcement Agency. Among the arrested and charged over two dozen persons, mostly Indo-Canadians with roots in Punjab, with participating in transnational drug trafficking activities.

According to the Toronto Sun, Project Brisa focused on the importation of cocaine and crystal meth from Mexico, to California, and into Canada via tractor-trailers.

Police executed 35 search warrants across the country.

“A seizure of this size will have a big impact not just with the drugs themselves but also with the repercussions and the harms that come from those drugs being on the streets; trips to the emergency wards and so forth,” said Inspector Tyrone Hilton of the Toronto Drug Squad.

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The drugs were being illegally brought into the country from the US – primarily from California – and also from India.

More than 30 suspects, including two dozen Indian-origin .have been arrested since April 8 after a transnational illicit drug trafficking network was busted in Canada. In April, in a major operation, Canadian law enforcement arrested and charged over two dozen persons, mostly Indo-Canadians with roots in Punjab, with participating in transnational drug trafficking activities.

In a news release, investigators said shipping the drugs was made possible by the installation of hydraulic traps in tractor trailers, which were in turn able to smuggle 100 kilograms in a single trip. Not even X-ray scans were able to penetrate those traps, police say.

During the course of the investigation, police say they identified a person known as the "Trap Maker," who was allegedly responsible for building the hidden compartments.

A 43-year-old man from British Columbia who used that moniker turned himself in to police in Toronto last week, investigators say, and has been charged with conspiracy to commit an indictable offence and participating in a criminal organization.

Though this is the biggest operation concerning the Punjabi community, reports reveal a number of smugglers were arrested earlier also, though never in such large numbers. Notably, Punjabi gangs are formed on clan basis. Gangs of Johals, Dhak-Duhre, Sanghera, Malhi-Buttar, and the Kangs feature regularly in drug seizures, gang wars and other criminal activities. One report from Canada said about 21 percent of gangsters who died in gang-wars or police operations since 2006 were of Punjabi region.

Their activities are of high concern back home in Punjab as some of the gangs have been linked to either arrested or wanted smugglers. The main being the gangs of Devinder Dev, Kamaljit Chauhan and Amarinder Singh Chhina.

Punjabi smugglers in Canada and Punjab have a robust network. They indulge in to and fro drugs. While Canadian gangs are interested in cheap ‘import’ of heroin from Afghanistan via Pakistan and Punjab, they ‘export’ refined drugs besides cocaine and ICE to Punjab. According to the Punjab Police and NCB officials there is a gang operating via Pakistan.

“Punjabi smugglers in Canada and Punjab have a robust network. They indulge in to and fro drugs. While Canadian gangs are interested in cheap ‘import’ of heroin from Afghanistan via Pakistan and Punjab, they ‘export’ refined drugs besides cocaine and ICE to Punjab,” said one security official. Sources told indianarrative.com that Indian agencies are in touch with their Canadian counterparts and was hoping to get the details of local links of the smugglers arrested in Canada so that their network in Punjab could be checked.