More than 160 people have been arrested in the Greater Sudbury area following a year-long police initiative to fight the sale of illegal drugs in the area.
The Greater Sudbury Police Service established a local component of the Provincial Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy (PAVIS) in December 2008. In addition to reduce illegal drug sales, another primary goal of the initiative was to reduce the risk to the vulnerable members of our community, specifically youth, according to a press release.
As a result, the Greater Sudbury Police Service’s Guns and Gangs Task Force was created. This unit played a major role in a multi-faceted investigation called Project Northbound. The project began in March 2009 and was an investigative component of the PAVIS strategy. This initiative, a collaborative partnership between GSPS and the Ontario Provincial Police Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau, has successfully met the objectives established under PAVIS, the press release stated.
The project focused on the distribution of illegal drugs in the City of Greater Sudbury and surrounding areas, and the people responsible for the supply of these drugs from criminal organizations outside of the city. The project itself is only one component of the overall PAVIS strategy.
PAVIS and Northbound results (provided by police) include:
- The arrest of 166 persons facing Criminal Code and Controlled Drug and Substance Act (CDSA) charges;
- 213 Criminal Code charges, 342 CDSA charges, and 30 individuals arrested on outstanding warrants. Charges include, but are not limited to, trafficking, possession for the purpose of trafficking, possession of restricted weapons, possession of property obtained by crime;
- Drugs seized: 1,558 grams of cocaine, 598 grams of crack cocaine, 1,840 oxycontin pills and 7,342 grams of marijuana;
- Canadian currency seized: $236,260;
- Weapons seized: three restricted weapons and one stolen firearm;
- Other property seized: six vehicles, as being offence-related property under the Controlled Drug and Substance Act;
- The total value of drugs seized during the entire PAVIS initiative to date is $397,161.
This initiative is continuing and further charges are pending.
