The secret to success behind a multi-million-dollar smuggling network hauling product out of Mexico
into the United States, and then out of the United States into Canada
was revealed this week.
The Mob Reporter here with news of an apparent autobody master building seemingly impenetrable
concealed hiding spots in transport trucks that were so good, they could get through two international borders
without detection by dogs, people or even X-Ray machines.
Let me tell you about it.
Meet “The Trap Maker.”
Well, we don’t actually get to meet him face-to-face, not yet anyway.
Instead, we meet him through his handiwork, his artistry. A bit like Banksy,
the famous anonymous street artist. Well, no. Not really.
Technically, yes, this is his alleged handiwork
because he was only arrested this week as part of the largest ever international drug probe in the history of Toronto
Canada’s largest city
I’m not sure people outside Canada understand the city’s size
It’s a metropolis of 3 million people, the fourth largest in North America, behind only Mexico City, New York and Los Angeles.
Toronto police unveiled the fruits of a seven-month long international drug probe this week.
Seized during raids and search warrants were more than 1,000 kilos of drugs
Mainly cocaine, crystal meth, oxy and pot
That was secretly being shuttled from Mexico into California,
across the length of the United States and across a second border into Canada
where it was offloaded in Toronto for distribution.
Police estimate the seized dope is worth more than $61 million.
Also seized was almost a million dollars in cash
21 vehicles -- including five tractor trailers and a Mercedes G-Wagon
and a Glock.
It is uncertain how long the operation was running until things went sour.
Police say at least since November 2020.
Their success was due in large part, police say, to sophisticated modifications made to a fleet of transport trucks, cars and delivery vans.
Hidden compartments sealed by trap doors controlled by hydraulic cylinders were skillfully built into the vehicles.
These hidey holes not only were invisible to the naked eye, but also could not be penetrated by X-ray machines
which are frequently used at borders to spot-check vehicles.
The modifications are called “traps” in the automotive world
and his were large enough to hold up to 100 kilos at a time.
It seems likely the ring’s modesty helped them avoid detection as well.
The traps were neither so large as to call attention to malformations or structural changes in the vehicles
nor so small their profit margins eroded.
They also shuffled through different border crossings
alternating between various border points from both Michigan and New York into Ontario.
Contraband was hidden inside the traps and then innocent, legitimate cargo loaded aboard the truck to justify the long-distance haulage.
That is reflected in the operation’s codename: Project Brisa.
It was chosen because the first truck they caught hauling drugs was carrying a load of hairdryers. Brisa is Spanish for “breeze.”
Toronto Police Chief James Ramer said the quantities being moved were “frankly staggering.”
“Let me be clear, the size and scope of this investigation in terms of drugs seized and potential harm caused has never been seen before in the history of our service.”
Twenty people were arrested, including a young offender and two people couldn’t be found when police moved in.
They remain fugitives at the time I’m making this: Two Toronto men, Scott McManus, who has a history of his own, and William Nhan.
During the investigation, police say they identified the man responsible for building the traps
whose evocative but unimaginative nickname was “the Trap Maker.”
On June 22, 2021, police identified him as Jason Hall, a 43-year-old man from Surrey, British Columbia
That’s on the other side of the country from the traffickers’ Toronto base.
Last week, police said, he turned himself in, a week after his property was searched by police in B.C..
He has no known criminal record.
He was charged with conspiracy to commit an indictable offence and participating in a criminal organization.
Trap makers are often autobody mechanics or car audio installers earning cash on the side.
Here are images from earlier this year in Spain, when police raided a clandestine trap workshop
Where passenger cars, vans, tractors, transport trucks, and motorcycles were being fitted for traps.
It should give you an idea of what we're talking about.
The best ones seamlessly find or create natural void spaces in vehicles
and imaginatively build mechanisms to allow the space to be filled and then locked and hidden.
These mechanized compartments grew in popularity throughout the 1980s
allowing valuable items, both legal and otherwise, to be stored securely, from both thieves and cops.
Typically, traps are only revealed by activating a series of switches or controls in the right order
such as holding the brake pedal while opening two windows and the turning on the rear defroster.
Or whatever combination works for the buyer and the creator.
Sometimes investigators are able to short-circuit the passcodes and open them
and sometimes they use snitches or wiretaps or hidden cameras to figure out the combination to release the trap
Sometimes they are complicated and sometimes quite simple.
Evidence in this operation suggests investigators didn’t figure out the secret combinations to open them electronically
They used the brute force technique.
Look at the damaged doors, bent metal and panels removed from hinges.
Blunt but effective.
Perhaps that’s a testament to the Trap Maker’s skill.
Or maybe just the impatience of these investigators.
Thanks for watching.