Cops make massive gun and drug bust

Police seized around $1.5 million in drugs and nearly a dozen firearms in a massive bust in Yorkville and the Annex.

The organized crime enforcement gun and gang task force arrested a man on 82 charges on June 24, just before executing three search warrants that led to the massive seizure, police said in a release.

A vehicle was searched, which resulted in police finding $175,000 in cash, police said.

A search of a Yorkville Avenue condo found more cash, as well as drug paraphernalia.

The final search warrant was executed at a house on Huron Street in the Annex where police discovered 11 firearms, including an AK-47, a rifle and a sawed-off shotgun.

Police also located an array of drugs that included ecstasy, cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin, crystal meth (worth $800,000), GHB (more commonly known as the date rape drug), marijuana, ketamine, hashish, oxycontin, and one substance that has yet to be identified pending testing.

Media reports have been saying the unidentified substance was labelled as “bath salts,” the drug that gained international attention after a man in Florida who was thought to be high on the drug was shot and killed by police after refusing to stop eating another man’s face.

Despite the massive haul of weapons and drugs, Det. Sgt. Brian MacDonnell from organized crime enforcement said the accused is not believed to be a member of any specific organized crime group. However, he did say the man had been on the unit’s radar for “a couple months.”

MacDonnell would not say how police came to know about the suspect, but did say that prior to his arrest he had no criminal record related to drugs or weapons.

Charged is 27-year-old Bennett Vuong of Toronto.