Police raids target street gang in the GTHA

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A street gang known as the “Monstarz” was the target of 50 Toronto police raids in and around the GTA this morning. The raids included Hamilton and St. Catharines, at least 60 people have been arrested.

Melissa Raftis reports from Market Street near Hess in Hamilton.

There were raids at 9 homes in Hamilton, where drugs and at least one gun were seized. But the crimes those arrested are accused of go beyond trafficking. Toronto Police say this gang is violent.

Around 5 a-m, more than a dozen officers raided 5 Birch Avenue in Hamilton.

This afternoon Hamilton Police could be seen inside an apartment at 155 Market Street. Witnesses say they saw other officers storm into the building just before 5 am.

On the mountain, more reports of an early morning raid at a house on Trenholme off Upper Kenilworth.

CHCH news didn’t speak with anyone who actually saw police go into the home early this morning but some neighbours say they saw the flashing lights of emergency vehicles around 5am, others say they saw police cruisers on the road later on in the morning. But what neighbours do say is that 91 Trenholme was the scene of a police raid this past winter.

Toronto police have not confirmed any addresses, but say they executed 50 search warrants in and around the GTHA targeting “The Monstarz.”

“I don’t think we’re dealing with a street level, a street gang. I think we’re dealing with a mid-level gang” said Toronto Police Inspector Bryan Bott. Over $2 million dollars worth of cocaine and at least 45-thousand dollars in cash were seized. “This group was targeted as a result of them being involved in 44 specific incidents of violence in the city of Toronto including homicides, robberies, shootings.”

At least 60 people were arrested in the raids.