Police displayed handguns, automatic rifles and even a rifle with a bayonet at a press conference Wednesday about a massive cross-country crackdown against alleged gang members.
On Tuesday, police made raids in Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver and other cities, arresting 60 suspects and charging them with nearly 400 offences. Police also confiscated $110,000 in cash and 27 firearms.
"Those 20-something odd guns seized in this project will never hurt anybody, ever again. Every minute of every day they're on the streets, that potential exists," Toronto's Deputy Chief Jeff McGuire told reporters.
The operation, seven months in the planning, was dubbed "Project Marvel." Police said the name is a reflection of the many youth suspects and their habit of naming themselves after Marvel comic-book characters. Ten of the suspects were under the age of 18.
Alleged gangs targeted in the investigation went by imaginative names such as the Young Buck Killaz and G-Siders, the latter named after the gang's home base of Gosford Boulevard in north Toronto.
Police said multi-jurisdictional cooperation was key to Project Marvel, which involved 900 officers and was one of the largest operations of its kind in Canadian law enforcement history.
Toronto city councilor Doug Ford attended the press conference, praising police efforts against gangs in his Etobicoke North ward.
"Every week, I'm at a condominium or an apartment building listening to 100 residents complaining about guns and gangs and marijuana being smoked in the hallways. And that's unacceptable," said Ford.
