Toronto police lay 100 charges against Mississauga man in guns and drugs probe

Toronto police say they’ve laid 100 charges against a 50-year-old Mississauga man following a guns and drugs investigation.

Toronto police Insp. Joe Matthews says investigators began their probe an investigation into the distribution of controlled substances and possession of firearms in late 2018. The investigation led to officers searching the man’s home and truck.

Police allege they found and seized 16 guns in total – seven handguns, three shotguns, six rifles – as well as two over-capacity magazines. They also found four kilograms of heroin and half an ounce of cocaine.

“This is not a street-level dealer,” he said at a news conference at police headquarters.

Police suspect there is some link to organized crime, he said.

“The reality is when you have this number of firearms, there is some linkage somewhere to organized crime, but a this point we don’t have that linkage,” Matthews said.

The man is facing the following charges:

1) 29 counts of careless storage
2) 17 counts of possession of a weapon obtained by crime
3) 16 counts of possession of a firearm
4) 16 counts of unauthorized possession of firearm
5) Seven counts of possession of loaded firearm
6) Four counts of possession of firearm tampering
7) Four counts of unauthorized possession in a motor vehicle
8) Two counts of possession of prohibited device or ammunition
9) Two counts of possession of property obtained by crime over
10) Possession for the purpose of trafficking weapons
11) Two counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking heroin

Hewan Wilson appeared in court on Monday.

Police also released a number of photographs of the seized items:

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With files from The Canadian Press