Three Barrie residents are among 23 people who have been charged in a drug and weapon trafficking investigation.
A total of 387 charges have been laid as part of Project Moffatt, an investigation by the OPP Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau’s northeast unit, the OPP-led Provincial Joint Forces Guns and Gangs Enforcement Team and the OPP-led Provincial Weapons Enforcement Team.
The investigation began in April after authorities learned of three crime groups that were trafficking drugs and firearms in the Greater Toronto Area and in central and northeastern Ontario.
On July 18 and 19, 14 search warrants were executed in Toronto, Vaughan, Barrie, Brampton, Mississauga, Oakville, North Bay, Engelhart and Pickering. Warrants were also executed at the Maplehurst Correctional Complex and the Collins Bay Federal Institution. One of the accused was a federal parolee who was violating conditions of his parole, OPP said in a news release.
Among the items seized by police were 29 firearms (mostly handguns), 12 kilograms of fentanyl, 25.25 kilograms of cocaine, five kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, more than 260,000 methamphetamine tablets, $289,297 in Canadian currency, $1,562 in United States currency, and 10 vehicles.
Police said the total street value of the drugs and firearms seized is more than $8 million, while other property seized is worth $790,000.
Among those charged were Barrie residents Jacob Woollings, 28, Cassandra Pelletier, 29, and Jennifer Ma, 24.
Woollings has been charged with seven counts of trafficking in a Schedule 1 substance, nine counts of possession of a Schedule 1 substance for the purpose of trafficking, three counts of possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000, three counts of knowingly offering to manufacture/transfer a firearm, device or ammunition, and one count of conspiracy to commit an indictable offence.
Pelletier has been charged with two counts of possession of a Schedule 1 substance for the purpose of trafficking.
Ma has been charged with two counts of possession of a Schedule 1 substance for the purpose of trafficking and one count of possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000.
The investigation is ongoing.
