Police north of Toronto say they have arrested eight people and dismantled what they describe as the largest meth production operation the force has investigated.
York Regional Police say the probe, dubbed Project Discard, began on Nov. 13, 2018 and took place over the course of four months.
Authorities were first contacted when more than 100 garbage bags and plastic cannisters were found dumped on a driveway on Woodbine Avenue, south of Herald Road in the Town of East Gwillimbury.
Police said investigators discovered the contents of the bags to be by-products of synthetic drug manufacturing.
Another dump site was reported on Dec. 2, 2018, at a property located on Woodbine Avenue, south of Mount Albert Road.
Police said their investigation led officers to two locations suspected of being clandestine drug labs.
“The scale of these two production sites we would classify as super labs,” Det. Sgt. Doug Bedford said during a news conference in Aurora, Ont., Friday morning.
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“These are not small user-based operations. These two sites were capable of producing into the hundreds of kilograms of methamphetamine and were in fact drug factories.”
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Police said they seized 50 kilograms of methamphetamine with a street value of $5 million. Five vehicles and an undisclosed amount of Canadian and U.S. currency were also confiscated.
Authorities say they arrested eight people and are still looking for a ninth. Van Truong, 34, of Toronto is wanted on a Canada-wide warrant in connection with the investigation. Police believe he is in Vietnam.
“This is an organized group of individuals. To label them as a gang I think is irresponsible,” Bedford said. “But it definitely falls within the definition of organized crime.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact the York Regional Police Guns, Gangs and Drug Enforcement Unit at 1-866-876-5423, ext. 7817 or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.
VIDEO: Police label dismantled meth facilities ‘super labs’, ‘drug factories’
— With a file from The Canadian Press
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