Seven Toronto police officers and a former member of the service have been arrested following a crime and corruption probe that includes allegations of drug trafficking and conspiracy to commit murder.
The investigation was initiated following a June 2025 incident in which some officers allegedly attempted to kill a prison official at his home.
The probe also led to the arrest of seven civilians. Authorities found that some of the officers allegedly trafficked fentanyl and cannabis.
“No corner of society is immune from the reach of organised crime, but when organised crime penetrates the Toronto Police Service the harm goes far beyond the immediate wrongdoing,” said police Chief Myron Demkiw.
The seven officers who were arrested are now suspended, Demkiw said. He added that he would be seeking to suspend them without pay “where appropriate”.
At an expansive press conference on Thursday, Deputy Chief Ryan Hogan shared the surveillance footage of the incident in which three masked men armed with a handgun appeared at the corrections official’s home and rammed a police vehicle that was in the driveway.
Of the seven civilians arrested, three are accused of plotting to kill the corrections manager at his home.
The other four civilians have been charged with alleged links to international organised crime.
Some of these individuals allegedly used bribes to get private information from police as part of an extortion plot, officials said.
“This is a deeply disappointing and sad day for policing,” York Regional Police Chief Jim MacSween said. “And it shows the insidious and corrosive nature of organised crime.”
More than 400 officers, including from York, Toronto and the Ontario Provincial Police, were involved in the investigation, York Deputy Chief Ryan Hogan said at the press conference.
Police chief Demkiw said he had not been asked to resign, in light of the internal corruption, but acknowledged the distrust the situation caused.
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