The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency says a recent drug bust resulted in the seizure not only of methamphetamines, cocaine and heroin but also 4,500 kilograms of Fentanyl and 50.6 million pills made to resemble different prescription pain-killers. The DEA said December 20 that the highly-addictive substance made by Mexican cartels from Chinese raw materials could have been used to manufacture 379 million fatal doses. [node:read-more:link]
Toronto-area police forces have arrested 51 people and recovered more than 215 stolen after a months-long investigation. Project Touchdown also resulted in the seizure of 15 handguns and an assault rifle, most of which have been traced to the U.S., as well as ammunition, a kilogram of cocaine, and “various reprogramming devices.” York Regional Police Chief Jim Macsween said today that in his jurisdiction alone, vehicle thefts this year are more than 44 per cent higher than in 2021. [node:read-more:link]
Eight teenage girls have been charged with second-degree murder and remanded in custody after a 59-year-old man was stabbed in a Toronto “swarming” incident. Three are 13, three are 14 and two are 16 and police say three had had previous contact with them. [node:read-more:link]
Indications that organizers of last winter’s trucker blockade of Ottawa are planning an anniversary visit have prompted Police Chief Eric Stubbs to flatly reject the idea. “The Ottawa Police Service will not allow for the conditions that led to the unlawful protests seen in February 2022,” he said December 19. “Vehicle-based protests will not be allowed to enter the downtown core or in areas of national significance and we will take appropriate action to preserve public safety.” [node:read-more:link]
Five victims and their killer are dead after a December 18 shooting in a condominium north of Toronto. Police say the 73-yer-old shooter who live in the gated complex killed five other residents with a handgun before he was shot by officers. [node:read-more:link]
The Canada Border Services Agency reported today that its officers have seized nearly 2.5 tonnes of opium in Vancouver with the help of the RCMP. The opium was found in 247 shipping pallets. [node:read-more:link]
Canada’s UN envoy, Bob Rae, says the federal government will send more armoured vehicles to Haiti to help its national police deal with gang violence that has escalated over five years and effectively paralyzed the country. Canada shipped three Mine-Resistant, Ambush-Protected vehicles and three commercial-pattern AVs in October and details of the next batch evidently will await an in-country assessment by three Canadian experts. [node:read-more:link]
Against the backdrop of a corruption scandal in the European Parliament, the information technology systems in 10 politicians’ offices have been “frozen” to prevent the disappearance of data. A total of 20 IT searches have been carried out and more than €750,000 seized since the scandal broke December 11. In addition, several socialist politicians were asked today by their party to step down from key posts. [node:read-more:link]
A British Columbia man and two from the U.S. face mandatory minimum sentences of 10 years after beachcombers in Washington state found duffel banks containing methamphetamines and Fentanyl worth some $7 million. Their grand jury indictment in Seattle was delivered after an extensive investigation by the RCMP and U.S. agencies. [node:read-more:link]
Former military and RCMP personal are calling for changes to Veterans Affairs Canada, saying it has been too slow in implementing health service changes announced by the government years ago. “Benefits and services are accessible,” said one vet at a December 8 rally in Nova Scotia, suggesting also that privatization of some services in 2021 is part of the problem. “If you’re in the system already, it’s not hard,” Rollie Lawless said. “It’s those trying to get into the system that seems to be the hiccup.” [node:read-more:link]
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino’s office said today that the government has suspended a contract with a Toronto-area company, Sinclair Technologies, to supply the RCMP with communications equipment designed to prevent eavesdropping. The company’s corporate parent in B.C., Norsat International, is owned by a Chinese entity the U.S. considers an “unacceptable” national security risk. [node:read-more:link]
Members of a disparate right-wing German group widely derided for years as “crackpots” evidently were part of an alleged attempt to overthrow the government this week. Twenty-five persons arrested in 150 police operations in 11 states included members of the Reichsbürger group which security services have becoming more radical and more dangerous in recent years. [node:read-more:link]
The U.S. Secret Service says hackers linked to the Chinese government stole at least $20 million on pandemic relief funds destined for more than a dozen states. Based in Chengdu, the APT41 hacker group is the first foreign state-sponsored cybercriminal organization the U.S. has acknowledged publicly. “It would be crazy to think this group didn’t target all 50 states,” said an official coordinating fraud recovery efforts which are part of more than 1,000 ongoing investigations involving domestic as well as foreign actors. [node:read-more:link]
A Public Services and Procurement Canada contract with a Toronto-area company to supply the RCMP with a radio-frequency filtering system is to be investigated after it was found that its parent company in B.C. is owned by a Chinese telecommunications firm. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said today that “we’re going to be finding out first of all what needs to be done to ensure that our communications technology is secure . . . and make sure that Canada is not signing contracts with the lowest bidder that then turn around and leave us exposed to security flaws.” [node:read-more:link]
Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek, an Ojibway First Nation in Northern Ontario, is suing the federal government in a bid to increase funding of reserve policing. “It happens more often than not where our officers couldn't execute an arrest because they had no backup,” Chief Wilfred King said December 4 before filing a statement of claim with the Federal Court. [node:read-more:link]
