120 arrested in raids across Ontario targeting Driftwood Crips

Toronto police, with the help of officers across Ontario, conducted a total of 77 raids on Thursday morning that targeted the Driftwood Crips street gang and its associates.

Chief Mark Saunders said Project Kronic saw 800 police officers from 20 different services conducting early morning searches in the GTA, St. Catharines and Sudbury.

In total, 120 people are facing over 660 charges, including murder, attempted murder, and trafficking guns and drugs.

Click here for the full list of charges.

Police allege the deadly opioid fentanyl was among the drugs the gang was dealing.

Saunders said the gang is one of the oldest in Toronto and has expanded over the years from the Jane and Finch area all the way to the west coast of Canada.

“We allege the Driftwood Crips are a criminal organization comprised of a number of different cells operating throughout Ontario and Western Canada,” Saunders said at Toronto police headquarters Thursday afternoon.

“They have been involved in … homicides, shootings, kidnappings, firearms and drug trafficking.”

Police began Project Kronic in May 2016 and said the gang formed a sophisticated network of drug dealers that dealt with associates, including the Hell’s Angels, across Canada.

Saunders said drugs, cash and numerous guns were seized during the raids and will be displayed on Friday.

“We are all safer as a result (of these arrests),” Saunders said, adding that the vast majority of street shootings in Toronto are gang-related. “I think we’ve made a very significant dent.”

Police released a YouTube video on Project Kronic on Thursday morning. Watch it below, or click here to view it.