Are drug cartels operating in Toronto? This is what we know

Toronto police announce the largest cocaine seizure in the force's history on Jan. 21. Chief Myron Demkiw says the drugs have alleged ties to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. (Toronto Police Service)

It was at a news conference back in January that Toronto police gave members of the public a glimpse at an investigation involving what they described as “violent” Mexican organized crime group known as the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

The group, police said, was linked to the largest cocaine bust in the service’s history. Investigators confirmed that more than half of the $83 million worth of cocaine that was seized as part of the drug squad probe was found in a transport truck that travelled from Mexico, through the United States, and into Canada. Two of the six suspects arrested in the case were Mexican nationals.

The revelation about the cartel’s alleged involvement in drug trafficking here in Toronto came just months after the FBI announced that a man with ties to the city was the “second-in-command” of a billion-dollar, multi-national drug trafficking operation out of Mexico under the protection of the Sinaloa Cartel.

While Toronto police have remained tight-lipped about the level of activity of drug cartels in Canada’s largest city, the head of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said earlier this year that the Mounties believe cartels are operating across the country. According to RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme, the agency also has “strong intelligence” that Canadians have relocated to Mexico and South America to move “certain commodities” into the country.

The recent developments suggest that drug cartels may be expanding their operations north of the U.S. border, experts tell CTV News Toronto.

But how active are cartels in Toronto? Here’s what we know so far.

‘It is obvious that they are here’

Luis Horacio Najera, an investigative journalist and crime analyst who fled Mexico in 2008 after facing threats by a cartel for his reporting, said he believes there is a “strong component” of Mexican criminal groups operating throughout Canada.

Now based in Toronto, Najera said the recent drug bust suggests cartels are thriving in the city.

“It is obvious that they are here, and they are doing well so far,” he said in an interview with CTV News Toronto.

According to Najera, the city is uniquely positioned as a growth opportunity for the cartels in Canada due to its size, role as the country’s business capital, but also, maybe most importantly, its location.

“From here you can move drugs through Europe or to Asia easily, because you’re closer to them, rather than sending from, for instance, Mexico, which is still far,” Najera said. “From Canada, you can move drugs easily across the world, which gives you an idea of the landscape of how important Canada and Toronto are for criminal organizations from Mexico.”

CTV News reached out to Toronto police about how pervasive organized crime from south of the U.S. border has become in the city, but they declined to comment.

However, in a statement from the RCMP, a spokesperson said “some” organized crime groups, including domestic and foreign cartels, as well as outlaw motorcycle gangs, are active in the Toronto area.

“As the RCMP has several ongoing investigations into the criminal operations of these groups, we will not provide names in order to protect the integrity of those investigations,” the spokesperson said when asked about which groups specifically are operating in the city.

The investigation into Ryan Wedding and Andrew Clark

Canadian Ryan Wedding, a former Olympic snowboarder, first made headlines in October when he was he was identified by the FBI as the head of a billion-dollar international drug-trafficking organization that allegedly transported hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California, and into Canada. He and his alleged “second-in-command,” Andrew Clark – who, the RCMP confirmed to CTV News, is originally from the Toronto-area and currently in U.S. custody – are also accused of directing multiple murders in Ontario.

Earlier this month, Wedding, who remains at large, was listed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list as it posted a US$10 million reward for his arrest.

Najera said Wedding’s alleged involvement in the drug-trafficking organization appears to illustrate a shift in priorities for cartels in recent decades.

In 2006, Public Safety Canada published a report which highlighted a “notable characteristic” of organized crime groups moving away from mainly ethnic-based structures to multicultural criminal organizations and that a“growing number” of multi-ethnic groups is based on criminal capabilities rather than nationality.

“Ethnicities, I mean, don’t really matter for [the cartels], because what really matters is making money, rather than the colour of your skin,” he said.

Najera has reported extensively on the many “tentacles” drug cartels have across the globe, and in 2021 he co-authored a book about a group known as the “Wolfpack,” a tech-savvy, ethnically diverse and widespread organized crime group in Canada with links to Mexico’s drug cartels.

He said that he believes the ongoing, international investigation underscores the “criminal pipeline” used by the cartels and shows that organized crimes groups are less limited by geographical boundaries than they may have been in the past.

“Yes, it begins in Spanish, in South America, but at the end of the day, the pipeline continues and ends in English, in Canada.”

Cartels now listed as terrorist organizations

Last month, Canadian and U.S. federal governments designated several groups as terrorist entities, including the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel, with Canadian officials saying the groups play a “leading role” in the production and distribution of fentanyl north of the U.S. border.

“These entities are criminal organizations that, through their activities and operations, carry out, attempt to carry out, participate in or facilitate terrorist activity by taking hostages, attacking civilian and critical infrastructure, and working to diminish the ability of local governments to function effectively and enforce laws,” Public Safety Canada said at the time.

The announcement was made as Canada and Mexico attempted to stave off tariff threats by U.S. President Donald Trump, who had accused both countries of allowing “massive” amounts of fentanyl to enter the U.S. However, U.S. border patrol statistics show that less than one per cent of fentanyl seized in the U.S. is found at the northern border.

Once a group is listed as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code, banks and financial institutions can freeze their assets and domestic law enforcement agencies are given more teeth, the latter of which national security analyst Anthony Seaboyer says makes a “huge difference.”

“[The cartels are] definitely being put on notice. 100 per cent,” Seaboyer said, noting that the designation unleashes more police resources to address the issue of drug cartels expanding north.

“It enables law enforcement to divert resources to it, or to designate resources to it that it otherwise couldn’t do,” he said.

In a statement to CTV News Toronto, a spokesperson for the RCMP said: “Listing under the Criminal Code provides the legal and institutional framework to implement measures to freeze terrorist funds, to help prohibit the financing of individual terrorist organizations, and to help criminalize certain support activities to the listed entity.

“It is not a crime to be listed, and it is not illegal to be a member of a listed entity. However, it is a criminal offence to participate in, facilitate or carry out any terrorist activity, or to provide or make available property, services and or financial resources, knowing they will be used by or benefit a listed entity.”

According to Seaboyer, foreign entities in the domestic drug trade have always been on the radar for law enforcement in Canada, but the issue hasn’t been taken as seriously as it is now.

However, he said that’s largely because cartels have never operated in Canada to the degree that they are currently, and that the tightening grip of U.S. law enforcement could ramp up their level of activity even higher.

“We’re seeing that it’s much harder for those cartels to operate in the United States directly, because [law enforcement has] been going after them much more effectively than in the past. And the effect that has, of course, is that they are going to look for other areas to operate, and Toronto is very close, obviously, to the United States, in many ways. So, this is one of the spillover effects that we’re seeing.”

February’s designation on both sides of the border represents what Seaboyer described as an official “appreciation of the problem.”

“And based on that, there’s going to be resource allocation. That’s a good thing.”