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An organized crime group stole over a million dollars worth of razors, nicotine gum, makeup and face creams mostly from Shoppers Drug Marts across Ontario and Quebec, say Hamilton police.
The retail theft syndicate was busted this week with the arrest of 21 people from Hamilton and the Greater Toronto Area, police told a news conference Thursday. Those charged range in age from 15 to 75.
Multiple police services — including from Hamilton, and Peel, York and Waterloo regions — took part in the Project Sommes investigation, beginning last August.
“This was not a small operation,” said Peel Deputy Chief Marc Andrews at the announcement in Hamilton. “It was a sophisticated distribution network and Peel Region served as a major hub of its activities.”
Individuals would go to drugstores, primarily Shoppers, and fill bags with products, said Hamilton Deputy Chief Ryan Diodati. The bags were sometimes designed to defeat security systems and the person would leave the store undetected.
The goods were quickly transported to Mississauga, and then to liquidation warehouses and wholesalers, who’d resell them to the public.
“Organized retail theft is not a victimless crime,” Diodati told reporters. “When retailers experience repeated losses of this scale, the effects are felt throughout the community, including increased prices and reduced product availability.”
Warrants out for 2 more arrests
The group is responsible for hundreds if not thousands of thefts dating back to February 2024 and investigators are still working to calculate the true cost of the goods stolen, he said.
Staff Sgt. Shane Coveyduck said Hamilton police began investigating people involved in a number of thefts at local Shoppers, discovering they were part of a larger network.
Many were on bail for similar charges or wanted in other jurisdictions.
On Tuesday, police executed 16 search warrants and made the arrests.
Warrants were also issued for two other people, but they’re believed to have left the country, said Coveyduck.
Two suspects were arrested in B.C., where they’d recently committed a “crime spree” at Shoppers in Vancouver, police said in a news release. They were arrested by Vancouver police and will be transported back to Hamilton.
The 21 people arrested face a total of 175 charges ranging from counselling to commit an indictable offences to possessing property worth over $5,000 obtained by a crime to committing an offence for criminal organization.
Several accused on bail for similar crimes
To try to prevent the suspects from being released on bail — and possibly go on to reoffend — the charges won’t be laid “piecemeal” in different jurisdictions, but rather all in Hamilton, said Supt. Martin Schulenberg of the investigative division.
A week ago, two main suspects were arrested in another municipality and released on bail within 12 hours, said Shulenberg.
“That’s a result of the piecemeal approach,” he said. “So taking an organized crime approach … will be in our view the difference maker in our ability to detain and hold them properly accountable.”
Loblaws’ Dean Henrico, vice-president of asset protection, also attended the news conference and thanked police.
He said retail crime not impacts businesses, but also the safety of the wider community as the profits from the stolen goods could be used to fund other, more violent crimes.
