Toronto police are accused of conspiring to operate illegal cannabis dispensaries and massage parlours
The latest from the Project South investigation
There’s a disturbing new Project South update.
According to a report from Global News, investigators tasked with looking into alleged organized crime and corruption within the Toronto Police Service have uncovered a “conspiracy” to facilitate illegal activity.
Investigators were reportedly authorized to intercept private telephone communications, and surveilled accused parties in order to discover “an organized criminal scheme to establish and operate illegal marihuana dispensaries and massage parlours” in the city.
Specific details as to who was allegedly involved and how the network allegedly operated have been withheld due to a publication ban.
Back in February, York Regional Police deputy chief Ryan Hogan alleged that four officers arrested as part of Project South had accepted bribes from a man named Brian Da Costa, said to be a “key figure” in a criminal network. Da Costa was charged with offences including cannabis for the purpose of distribution and bribing a peace officer.
Per Global’s investigation, Hogan has alleged “that these officers, in particular, were involved with Mr. Da Costa in supporting illegal cannabis dispensaries by accepting bribes to provide, ultimately, protection from law enforcement investigation.”
The Project South investigation remains ongoing. It is also alleged that accused parties related to the investigation are linked to alleged drug lord Ryan Wedding.
Related: A Toronto police officer has been charged with sexual assault and suspended with pay
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
