Toronto, Feb 6 (AP) Seven Toronto police officers and one retired officer have been arrested and charged in an organised crime investigation involving bribery, conspiracy to commit murder and drug trafficking, authorities said on Thursday.
Police officials at a news conference said the officers had collected personal and private information unlawfully and distributed it to organised crime figures, in some cases for bribes, and that mobsters then carried out shootings and other violent crimes.
"This is a painful and unsettling moment," Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw said. "When organised crime penetrates the Toronto Police Service, the harm goes far beyond the immediate wrongdoing."
York Police Deputy Chief Ryan Hogan said the investigation began in June when police uncovered a murder plot involving a corrections management employee who was being targeted by mobsters. He said the suspects had passed information to the mobsters about the employee.
Several suspected mobsters went to the corrections manager's home for the purpose of murdering him, but encountered a separate contingent of police officers who were protecting the employee and who arrested the suspected mobsters after they rammed a police car, Hogan said.
Hogan said it was the third time within 36 hours that suspects had gone to the home, and the incident sparked the investigation that revealed Toronto officers had accessed personal information and leaked it to members of an organised crime group.
Investigators allege that Toronto police Const Timothy Barnhardt gave personal information to Brian Da Costa, a man suspected of several drug trafficking and bribery offences who was among several suspects allegedly seeking confidential information from officers.
"We allege that Mr Da Costa is a key figure in a criminal network operating within the Greater Toronto Area, with in fact significant international ties," Hogan said.
Toronto police officers Derek McCormick, Elias Mouawad, John Madeley Jr and his father, retired constable John Madeley Sr, are among those charged in the investigation.
Toronto police officers Barnhardt, Robert Black, Saurabjit Bedi and Carl Grellette were also charged, and were allegedly involved in bribery schemes orchestrated by Da Costa, Hogan said.
"We allege that these officers in particular were involved with Mr Da Costa in supporting illegal cannabis dispensaries by accepting bribes to provide, ultimately, protection from law enforcement investigation," he said, adding some of the accused officers were also allegedly involved in cocaine trafficking.
In addition to Da Costa, 18 other suspects were arrested in the investigation, including two youths.
Demkiw said the officers who were suspected of wrongdoing have been suspended and that he is seeking suspension without pay for at least four of them. (AP) RUK
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