Four southern Ontario men have been charged with using a helicopter to smuggle handguns into Canada and cannabis into the U.S.
Police on both sides of the border praised the joint effort involved in a 16-month joint investigation involving the RCMP, U.S. Homeland Security and the Ontario Provincial Police.
“This important disruption removed 18 firearms from a criminal organization that posed a significant threat to Canadian communities and brazenly exploited our shared border through the air,” Michael Buckley, Attaché for Homeland Security Investigations at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa said on Wednesday in a prepared statement.
Police executed six search warrants within the Greater Toronto Area and Quebec, seizing 18 handguns, more than 800 marijuana plants and dried cannabis from an illegal grow-operation, and approximately 400 grams of suspected cocaine.
The group was found to be cultivating cannabis outside of Health Canada regulations in the GTA.
Police seized a Jet Ranger helicopter, which they said was used to smuggle the illegal cannabis into the U.S. at low altitudes to avoid detection.
Charged with conspiracy to export cannabis, possession of cannabis for the purpose of exporting it and illegally cultivating cannabis and possession of forged documents are: Kamal Deep Bassan, 36, of Vaughan; Ramindejit Assi, 25, of Burlington; Derek Chi-Yeung Ng, 40, of East Gwillimbury; and Parmjot Saini, 30, of Woodbridge.
Assi also faces charges of illegal possession of brass knuckles and possession of cocaine. Saini is also charged with possession of cannabis for the purpose of distributing.
“The RCMP continues to be committed to combatting Transnational Organized Crime and keeping our citizens safe by removing illicit commodities off the streets and out of the hands of these group,” Hamilton-Niagara RCMP Inspector Ann Koenig said in a prepared statement.