Eight current and former Toronto police arrested in organized crime inquiry | Canada
At least eight current and former Toronto police officers have been arrested following an extensive investigation that authorities say has exposed organized crime’s “corrosive” reach into Canada’s largest municipal police force.
Police allege officers took bribes, aided drug traffickers, leaked personal information to criminals who then carried out shootings and aided members of organized crime in a plot to kill a prison officer.
Chief Myron Demkiw said of the “deeply disappointing” allegations: “No segment of society is immune from the influence of organized crime, but when organized crime infiltrates the Toronto police force, the damage goes far beyond the immediate wrongdoing.” “To those accused today, you will answer for your actions in court.”
Current and former police officers indicted include a father and son, both accused of leaking information to criminals.
“This is an extremely disappointing and sad day for policing,” York regional police Chief Jim MacSween told reporters. More than 400 officers participated in the Project South investigation, including from York, Toronto and Ontario provincial police.
York region deputy chief Ryan Hogan said the investigation began after an attempt to kill a corrections officer working at a Toronto prison in June 2025.
“Multiple suspects participated over a 36-hour period [the victim’s] “We allege he was at his home in the York area, intending to kill him,” he said. At the press conference, police showed camera footage of three armed, masked men going to the officer’s home and crashing into a police cruiser in the driveway.
Police officers illegally collected personal and private information and passed it on to members of organized crime, “ultimately causing serious harm in our communities,” Hogan said. He described the investigation as the “most complex and challenging investigations” in his career spanning nearly three decades.
Seven civilians, including three defendants in the murder plot, and four others suspected of having links to international organized crime were also charged.
One of the men, Brian Da Costa, was allegedly involved in a “sophisticated” drug smuggling operation. “When officers arrested Mr. Da Costa on January 23 of this year, officers seized 169 kilograms of marijuana and one kilogram of fentanyl, which we believe were destined for a location in Europe,” Hogan said.
Hogan said officers allegedly gave “protection” to suspects accused of trafficking fentanyl and marijuana and stole personal items, including driver’s licenses, passports and medical cards, from a police facility.
Police acknowledged that the investigation, which resulted in at least 30 arrests, also involved the tow truck industry, which is increasingly implicated in gun violence, turf wars and links to organized crime.
Demkiw said the case against the officers is “incredibly large” and unprecedented in his time as leader of Toronto police. In 2012, five Toronto officers on the drug squad were convicted of obstruction of justice after falsifying notes related to a warrantless search.
“Our greatest responsibility is to undertake the hard work of honest review, to look critically at how this happened, to identify weaknesses and to address them in a way that supports confidence in Toronto police,” he said. “Organized crime is corrosive, its infiltration of our service is unacceptable, but these allegations do not represent more than 8,000 members.”
Hogan said police will re-examine cases officers are working on to determine whether the defendant manipulated or obstructed the outcome of investigations.
The four police officers accused were suspended without pay.
“As a professional labor organization, we will ensure that our members receive due process and wellness support as necessary,” the police union said in a statement. “We have no further comment regarding this investigation or the members involved.”
