TORONTO — Peel Regional Police say a 10-month undercover operation dismantled a GTA firearms-trafficking network and took 23 guns off the street — including a Glock used in a March 2024 Mississauga homicide — along with 951 rounds of ammunition and 824.75 grams of cocaine. The file was funded by the Ontario government through the Ministry of the Solicitor General, with support from Criminal Intelligence Service Ontario.Project Red Zone ran from October 2025 to July 2026. Peel’s Specialized Enforcement Bureau worked with the United States Department of Homeland Security, then executed four search warrants in Mississauga, Ajax and Scarborough. Fifteen of the 23 guns originated in the United States, several are prohibited in Canada, and one accused was already bound by a release order. Det. Michael Bishop said the smuggling routes include the trucking industry at the border and Pearson airport.Deputy Chief Nick Milinovich told reporters the seized guns are “tools of violence,” used to carry out extortions, home invasions, carjackings and gang shootings, and that every illegal firearm on the street puts residents and officers at risk. More than half of the guns on display had already been used in shootings across the GTA, he said, and one shooting left a man dead and another with injuries he will carry for the rest of his life..Forensic work linked the seized firearms to 14 GTA shootings. One weapon — a Glock 23 Gen 4 semi-automatic handgun with an over-capacity magazine — was tied to the March 21, 2024 shooting that killed Alastair Robinson, 37, of Toronto, and wounded an 18-year-old. Police did not name the other 13 shootings. Milinovich said about 90% of illegal firearms seized in the region come from the U.S., and that the remaining 10% often have serial numbers modified or removed so they cannot be traced. Peel investigators said they have already seized 125 crime guns in 2026.Four people face a combined 57 charges. Stephen Prakash Consala, 24, of Scarborough, is charged with 23 counts of firearms trafficking, trafficking ammunition, nine counts of trafficking a controlled substance and failing to comply with a release order. Akshaya Srikanthan, 24, of Ajax, is charged with 11 counts of firearms trafficking and seven counts of trafficking a controlled substance. Sammy Shaik, 28, of Mississauga, is charged with trafficking ammunition. Janoj Dhayabaran, 23, of Toronto, is charged with three counts of firearms trafficking and possession for the purpose of trafficking. Consala and Dhayabaran were held pending a bail hearing; Srikanthan and Shaik were released to appear later in the Ontario Court of Justice.
