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Two days after Peel’s police chief expressed concern as gun violence reached unprecedented levels in Mississauga and Brampton, investigators say they have made the largest-ever seizure of illegal weapons in the region.

Peel Regional Police have not provided any details about their “major firearms investigation,” dubbed Project Sledgehammer, saying only that it represents the “largest seizure of illegal firearms” ever in the region. police history.

Details will be provided at a news conference scheduled for 1 p.m. Monday at a Peel police station in Mississauga, police said in a brief media advisory.

Peel Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah, who in a social media post Wednesday expressed growing concern over a increase in illegal guns flowing into Mississauga and Brampton and associated violence, will speak at Monday’s media briefing.

Nishan Duraiappah, Chief of Peel Regional Police. (Photo: Peel Regional Police)

He will be joined by Deputy Chief Nick Milinovich and Det. Michael Baker, of the force’s Specialized Law Enforcement Bureau.

In a news release issued Wednesday accompanying the police chief’s two-minute video message (see below), police said there were 46 shootings in Peel in July and August alone, during of which 19 people were injured. One person was killed during the summer’s armed violence.

Duraiappah also noted that officers in his ranks seize an illegal weapon every 36 hours on average.

The region’s top police officer added that in those 46 summer shootings, 28 people were arrested and 51 weapons seized, “40 of which were illegal firearms in the hands of criminals.”

In July, a joint investigation by Peel police led to the seizure of 71 illegal weapons – 67 handguns, four assault rifles – in what was at the time the largest such attack ever seen in Peel.

Some $1 million in cocaine and fentanyl, in addition to $25,000 in cash, were also part of the seizure.

Police said at the time that the weapons had been smuggled into Canada from the United States and were believed to be intended for use in home invasions, carjackings and other violent crimes in Mississauga, Brampton and the Greater Toronto Area.

(Cover photo: Peel Regional Police. The weapon shown is not related to this investigation.)

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