CBCNEWS — Marketplace
20260816 033000 UTC
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[00:01:44] [tense music playing]
[00:01:49] [indistinct chatter]
[00:01:57] of a violent criminal network
[00:01:59] responsible for home invasions and robberies.
[00:02:03] [Ioanna] Over in neighbouring Peel region,
[00:02:05] the alarming jump in jewelry store robberies
[00:02:07] and home invasions prompted police
[00:02:09] to create a task force called Project Night Train.
[00:02:13] Police announced the results of the crackdown this past Ju.
[00:02:17] We have identified 13 individuals
[00:02:19] responsible for these crimes.
[00:02:24] [Ioanna] We met with Inspector Sean Brennan and the team behind Project Night Train
[00:02:28] in Mississauga.
[00:02:29] They gave us a behind-the-sces breakdown of the investigatio.
[00:02:32] Many of the suspects, they sa, are just kids.
[00:02:35] You know, we've never seen the prevalence
[00:02:37] of young persons committing crimes at these levels ever.
[00:02:41] It's disturbing when
[00:02:44] we are talking a three-year average here in central robbery for the Region of Peel,
[00:02:47] and 40% of our offenders are young persons.
[00:02:50] Escalation of violence is the worst we've seen in this office by far.
[00:02:54] And over property and stuff too. You are scarring these people for life.
[00:02:58] So six of the 13 arrested being Young people...
[00:03:02] it's not just a problem that we're having case specific,
[00:03:05] for us it's kind of a trend region-wide, GTA-wide.
[00:03:09] Something we're trying to obviously get ahead of,
[00:03:12] figuring out the recruitment process.
[00:03:15] [Ioanna] What's emerging, police say is minors
[00:03:17] being approached by adults.
[00:03:19] Is there a master who's kind of
[00:03:22] controlling the show, or how is this happening? [Shoniker] It seems like
[00:03:25] there's a network on social media.
[00:03:26] It's usually young people at risk are met
[00:03:29] by somebody who we would call the organizer.
[00:03:33] They exchange phone numbers, they create these group chats
[00:03:36] and when they're ready to go do-- identify a target,
[00:03:39] they'll put it out on the group chat to who's up to doing them.
[00:03:43] They call it a mission. They'll organize a spot to meet.
[00:03:46] So in essence these people, the offenders getting together,
[00:03:49] may have never met each other before. [Ioanna] Nine? [Shoniker] There's nine of them.
[00:03:53] [Ioanna] Breaking the glass in the middle of the day. [Shoniker] Yep. [Ioanna] Detective Justin Shoniker
[00:03:57] shows us one of the most dramatic robberies Project Night Train investigated.
[00:04:01] He says the lack of connection between suspects
[00:04:03] makes identifying them even more of a challenge.
[00:04:06] Especially because they move so fast.
[00:04:09] [Shoniker] Now they're coming outside, As you can see, they're all holding bags,
[00:04:12] reusable shopping bags full of the stolen jewelry.
[00:04:16] What do you think when you see them
[00:04:18] start smashing away at the display cases? [youth mother] It's so disappointing,
[00:04:22] like, it really is.
[00:04:25] [Ioanna] This woman says her 16-year-old son
[00:04:27] is accused of taking part in multiple smash and grabs.
[00:04:31] I just don't think that he sees...
[00:04:33] the severity...
[00:04:36] of his charges.
[00:04:39] [Ioanna] She's speaking exclusively to The Fifth Estate.
[00:04:42] As a minor in custody the law does not allow her son to be named,
[00:04:46] and we cannot show you who she is
[00:04:48] in order to protect his identity. Do you have an idea of who was behind it?
[00:04:52] [youth mother] The police told me that
[00:04:54] there was a group of adults
[00:04:56] that were recruiting them.
[00:04:58] I don't know where they're meeting them.
[00:05:01] I don't know...
[00:05:03] like-- I don't know if they're...
[00:05:07] you know, hanging out at, like, spots teenagers do.
[00:05:10] Is it at the mall? Like, I have no idea.
[00:05:13] What were these adults telling him and his friends?
[00:05:19] He said that he was approached by somebody
[00:05:21] who told him that he wanted to see,
[00:05:25] like, young teens make money and flourish.
[00:05:30] And he was like, "This guy just wants us to--
[00:05:33] he wants to see us do better
[00:05:35] because there's not a lot of options for us."
[00:05:38] I told him that it sounded very predatory.
[00:05:42] He was told that, you know, they have insurance.
[00:05:45] Right? So, like, it's a victimless crime.
[00:05:50] [Ioanna] She says her son was promised money,
[00:05:52] at least $2,000,
[00:05:54] and told as a minor he would get off easy.
[00:05:57] [youth mother] The messaging, I guess,
[00:06:00] that he was told was that...
[00:06:03] if he's under 18, he's a young offender.
[00:06:07] And if you're a young offender, then it just goes away
[00:06:10] once you become an adult, so none of it matters.
[00:06:14] [Ioanna] Over in York region, police are about to catch a break.
[00:06:23] after news that Toronto police arrested three minors.
[00:06:28] I believe they were arrested for a shoplifting incident in Toronto.
[00:06:31] And through that arrest,
[00:06:33] our investigators became engaged. There was information that led us to believe
[00:06:37] that those offenders were likely related
[00:06:39] to our robbery series that we've been investigating this week.
[00:06:43] Since then one of the investigators
[00:06:45] typed through the evening and was able to get
[00:06:48] a search warrant granted through a justice of the peace.
[00:06:50] So that search warrant allows us to go to a residence.
[00:06:53] That residence is in Toronto, and we're going to execute the search warrant.
[00:06:57] Three suspects come up with hammers. [Ioanna] Wow. To help make the case
[00:07:00] for that search warrant.
[00:07:02] Detective Constable Matt Milry says he pored over
[00:07:05] security camera footage tying the suspects
[00:07:07] to one of the stolen vehicles police had been watching.
[00:07:11] They parked it near an apartmt building in Toronto.
[00:07:13] From that video, we observed
[00:07:15] our suspects getting into a taxi.
[00:07:18] We were able to identify the taxi company,
[00:07:20] and then through the taxi company,
[00:07:23] found the trip records of where those suspects were driven to.
[00:07:27] Which was an address in Toronto.
[00:07:29] So then we go to get video from that apartment building.
[00:07:33] So the video here is the taxi arriving with our suspects.
[00:07:36] That's them exiting? That's them exiting and then they're going to enter the building.
[00:07:41] What do you expect to find or hope to find? So we're hoping to find evidence of the offense.
[00:07:45] So we're looking for clothing, any types of weapons,
[00:07:47] tools that may have used in the robberies,
[00:07:50] items that may have been taken during the robberies.
[00:07:55] [Ioanna] Moments after officers arrived on the scene,
[00:07:57] another unexpected lead.
[00:08:00] We were told to hang back until they got inside.
[00:08:02] Okay, so this is the unit here that the investigators are in.
[00:08:05] The door's just cracked open. It sounds like they're explaining a few things
[00:08:09] to the occupant that's inside.
[00:08:10] I've been told that there's one male adult inside
[00:08:18] removing the individual from the residence. He's under arrest right now for possession
[00:08:22] of property obtained by crime over 5,000.
[00:08:24] They seized a significant amount of jewelry within the residence.
[00:08:38] How big of a deal is it that you not only found
[00:08:41] stolen merchandise but yet another suspect?
[00:08:44] I mean, in this case, I think it's a great lead for our case.
[00:08:49] Not in every case do you recover amounts of stolen property.
[00:08:53] In this case, it certainly seems to be
[00:08:55] telling us that the property was destined for this location.
[00:08:59] Where it was going to go from here, I don't know.
[00:09:02] But it's certainly giving us that in-between point
[00:09:05] that we're always looking for.
[00:09:09] [Ioanna] In that cruiser, a 19 year old who now faces several charges
[00:09:13] related to a home invasion, possession of stolen vehicles
[00:09:16] and a jewelry store robbery.
[00:09:19] And in this case, because he's the, it seems right now to be the only adult,
[00:09:23] do you think he might be playing a more senior role
[00:09:26] in any of these crimes? He certainly could be.
[00:09:29] And those are all angles that we'll be looking for
[00:09:32] as the investigation, again, unfolds.
[00:09:34] By no means is the investigation completed here today.
[00:09:37] Is there other people out there that we don't know of?
[00:09:40] So potentially your spiderweb might only get bigger.
[00:09:43] It certainly can, yes.
[00:09:48] [youth mother] There's a lot of emotion. [Ioanna] This mother says she never expected
[00:09:52] her teenager would be facing robbery charges.
[00:09:55] I think that...
[00:09:57] my son heard, you know, the treasure
[00:10:00] that awaited him and kind of got baited with that.
[00:10:04] What was the appeal, you think?
[00:10:07] Money, freedom.
[00:10:11] They're going to be able to impress people
[00:10:12] and they're going to be able to wear certain clothes.
[00:10:15] People will say, where are their parents?
[00:10:19] They're watching horrifically from the sidelines.
[00:10:25] I think most parents...
[00:10:29] want the best for their children,
[00:10:31] and I don't think the best involves any of this.
[00:10:35] As a parent, you're worried about them being bullied at school
[00:10:38] and you're maybe worried about them doing drugs.
[00:10:41] You're typically not preparing yourself
[00:10:45] for them to...
[00:10:56] from a jewelry store and we also have
[00:10:59] broken glass in the bottom of the bag.
[00:11:02] So that's a pretty telling piece of evidence for us.
[00:11:06] [Ioanna] Back at York Police Headquarters,
[00:11:08] today's operation led to a surprise arrest
[00:11:10] and a trove of potential evidence
[00:11:13] that seems to tie back to those stolen cars
[00:11:15] police had been watching.
[00:11:19] So, like here, you can see glove marks.
[00:11:23] [Ioanna] And while this investigation moves forwd
[00:11:26] a bigger, disturbing pattern is also emerging.
[00:11:30] Young suspects out on bail reoffending.
[00:11:35] We're seeing the same players again and again and again.
[00:11:38] And you're seeing people re-victimized or new victims,
[00:11:41] and you know, that part's hard to watch.
[00:11:44] And we're doing everything we can to lock them up, but they're right back out again.
[00:11:49] [Ioanna] In Peel alone, 42% of the youths charged
[00:11:53] by the Central Robbery Bureau
[00:11:54] were breaching prior release conditions.
[00:11:57] If you look at the numbers, the numbers don't lie.
[00:11:59] We're not-- The deterrent isn't there, so the messaging isn't there.
[00:12:03] And you know, these repeat offenders and this cycle of violence that's occurring...
[00:12:07] it has to stop.
[00:12:08] There's a lot of people who are talking tough on bail reform,
[00:12:11] but do you think the answer is to lock kids up?
[00:12:14] Excellent question.
[00:12:17] And a tough answer.
[00:12:20] When you look at the crime and the severity of the crime
[00:12:23] and the impact of the community and,
[00:12:24] you know, there should be a deterrent for violent crime.
[00:12:28] So we need to absolutely look at how do we get ahead of that
[00:12:32] with those community supports. But for those that are committing
[00:12:35] absolute violent crime, they have to be held to account.
[00:12:39] -[Ioanna] Coming up... -when you're directly
[00:12:40] investing in youth, you are preventing crime.
[00:15:53] [tense music playing] [Ioanna] Back at Jewelry Forever,
[00:15:57] after three attempted smash and grabs,
[00:15:59] Jerry Sorani and Joe Kasap are always on high alert.
[00:16:03] You always, like, looking over your shoulder per se,
[00:16:07] to do the business that you used to be doing it comfortably,
[00:16:10] now it's not comfortable anymore. We have all loyal customers
[00:16:14] which always, you know, coming back. But definitely it affects
[00:16:17] -the foot traffic. -Foot traffic, yeah. Definitely, it took that away.
[00:16:19] If somebody comes in with the hoodie, sunglasses, you're not coming in.
[00:16:23] At least you have a little bit, that little power because you have the doors locked.
[00:16:27] If I have, let's say, six, seven young kids, guys,
[00:16:31] want to come in at the same time, -Not at the same time. -...unfortunately, they're not going to come in.
[00:16:34] That's probably one of the biggest things
[00:16:36] you can do to prevent these from happening in the first place is being able to control entry.
[00:16:40] Look at your exterior,
[00:16:42] understand how they can get in,
[00:16:44] and either mitigate for your windows and your doors.
[00:16:49] I think having something to protect your front glass windows
[00:16:52] is a great idea, whether you're using film, laminate glass, or polycarbonate.
[00:16:56] And then inside, you want to look at
[00:17:00] some sort of security glass on your display cases,
[00:17:03] if possible, or limit the amount of jewelry
[00:17:07] that you actually leave out. So if you are victimized,
[00:17:17] at this location for 17 years.
[00:17:19] They've never had to be this careful, and they're not sure how much longer
[00:17:23] they can stay in business. Pleasure to meet you again.
[00:17:26] The insurance just keeps going to go up and up.
[00:17:28] And for me to pay $5,000 a month now
[00:17:32] because if you have incidents, it's going to be $10,000 a month.
[00:17:35] Third incident happened. Fourth incident happens. Insurance companies say,
[00:17:39] "Sorry, I cannot even insure you anymore." So, and-- when that--
[00:17:43] when that happened, how am I going to run my business?
[00:17:46] [Ioanna] In fact, remember that third robbery attempt on their store?
[00:17:49] It's part of that sprawling series of violent crimes
[00:17:52] we tracked with York police.
[00:17:54] And how do you feel that the June attack was connected
[00:17:57] to a string of other incidents?
[00:18:00] There is no consequences, right? When there's no punishment...
[00:18:03] The law has to...
[00:18:05] change for this to kind of come to a stop.
[00:18:09] What we need to do is scrap liberal bail.
[00:18:13] There's something broken when there is a revolving door
[00:18:15] in our justice system, particularly around bail.
[00:18:18] If people that are committing crimes
[00:18:21] are. Seeing a justice system
[00:18:23] that's not holding them accountable,
[00:18:25] that creates opportunity for more crime.
[00:18:29] [Ioanna] Rising calls led the federal government
[00:18:30] to announce a sweeping bail reform bill this fall.
[00:18:34] It would toughen sentencing and make bail harder to get,
[00:18:37] especially for violent and repeat offenders.
[00:18:40] And now they would have to prove to the court
[00:18:42] why they should be granted bal instead of the onus
[00:18:45] being on the crown to prove why they shouldn't.
[00:18:48] We're making bail stricter to keep you safer.
[00:18:52] You're focusing on the wrong thing.
[00:18:55] We need to be investing in our youth
[00:18:58] and investing in our youth's future.
[00:19:01] [Ioanna] Karla Bailey is the executive director of My Neighborhood Services,
[00:19:05] which runs out of this community hub in Mississauga.
[00:19:08] It has given thousands of young people a place to go
[00:19:11] and always something to eat.
[00:19:13] We ensure that food is in every single one
[00:19:17] of our youth programs.
[00:19:19] Are you hearing that people might be making those decisions
[00:19:22] because they need money for food? What are you hearing? There's a lot of different things.
[00:19:26] There's the food, the social media, what's going on.
[00:19:29] There is the wanting to fit in.
[00:19:32] There's the friends, there's the siblings.
[00:19:36] You can't just put one thing and say,
[00:19:40] this is what's causing it, right?
[00:19:43] "What's the most common crime committed
[00:19:45] by youth in Canada?" Okay.
[00:19:49] [student] Yes, it's theft under 5,000. That's the most common crime.
[00:19:54] Again, there's no judgment in this room, but we also have to respect everyone.
[00:19:57] [Ioanna] Prevention is the goal behind many of their programs here.
[00:20:01] And they start early, as young as middle school.
[00:20:03] We have mental health programs...
[00:20:07] that will say, okay...
[00:20:10] What is it that we can help you with...
[00:20:13] that supports this need?
[00:20:16] How can we help you...
[00:20:21] to do better?
[00:20:23] [Ioanna] Still, there are gaps, and she's trying to close the.
[00:20:27] Bailey's organization also helps young offenders
[00:20:30] get back on track. When we look at our...
[00:20:35] Youth Justice Reintegration program,
[00:20:38] that program...
[00:20:41] it is supposed to serve...
[00:20:45] 60 youth.
[00:20:47] Last year it served 220 youth.
[00:20:53] What does that tell you?
[00:20:54] We all know prevention is so much better than cure,
[00:20:58] but we get to reintegrate them into society,
[00:21:01] give them the tools to succeed, to not reoffend.
[00:21:08] Have you guys been as busy since we left? -It has been, yes. -Yeah?
[00:21:12] It hasn't really slowed at all.
[00:21:14] [Ioanna] A few months after we first met with York police,
[00:21:17] we went back to speak to the head of its Hold-Up Un,
[00:21:19] Detective Sergeant Ryan Boulay.
[00:21:22] We had an uptick in home invasions this year.
[00:21:25] We're also trending up in our jewelry store robberies.
[00:21:28] [Ioanna] He told us the unit has added four new officers
[00:21:31] to investigate yet another spike in violent robberies.
[00:21:35] I'll tell you that in 2023 to 2024,
[00:21:37] we've seen our jewelry store robberies increase roughly 133%.
[00:21:42] And in 2025, we're trending upwards
[00:21:44] of that number that we've seen last year. It's kind of our five year high.
[00:21:48] What do you make of that?
[00:21:50] I mean, it's disturbing that it seems every time
[00:21:54] we make an arrest or an occurrence happens, another one seems to follow it.
[00:21:57] And that's not just, you know, strictly the York region.
[00:22:00] We're seeing that across the Greater Toronto area.
[00:22:03] [Ioanna] And getting to the people calling the shots
[00:22:05] is still a challenge.
[00:22:07] In a lot of cases, they're not willing to provide,
[00:22:11] if you want to call it, statements as to who had sent them there,
[00:22:14] who orchestrated it, and I'd imagine
[00:22:16] a lot of time that's fear of retaliation, right? You speak to the police, you're known as a rat,
[00:22:20] and you're gonna essentially, you know, you may not be
[00:22:23] in that good of a place when you get released from custody.
[00:22:26] How worried are you if there is no intervention?
[00:22:29] Certainly if there's no intervention, I would be willing to bet
[00:22:33] that there's really no positive outlook
[00:22:36] that's going to come for adulthood with those offenders.
[00:22:38] At the end of the day, we as the police, we get it,
[00:22:40] we need help as well to combat these types of crimes,
[00:22:44] especially when we're seeing such young offenders.
[00:22:47] [Ioanna] The home invasion case we told you about ended with convictions,
[00:22:51] including one for a young offender.
[00:22:53] But that night still haunts the family.
[00:22:56] [sister 2] It just felt very violating
[00:22:58] because it happened in our own house.
[00:23:00] Like, at night, when I go to sleep,
[00:23:02] I can't close my eyes.
[00:23:04] I feel like if I close them,
[00:23:07] and then I feel like they're standing right there
[00:23:09] at the doorway because that's when they stormed up and...
[00:23:12] that's when we first saw them. You didn't get a chance to talk to them,
[00:23:16] but if you did, what would you say to them?
[00:23:19] So I wanted to ask "Why you did this?
[00:23:23] What motivated you?" And then...
[00:23:27] "See what you have done?
[00:23:29] Do you think you're proud of what you have done?
[00:23:32] How far can they go doing this?
[00:23:36] This cannot take you far."
[00:23:41] [youth mother] Constantly wonder if it's the right decision for him,
[00:23:44] if it's the right decision for the rest of my family.
[00:23:47] [Ioanna] This mother is afraid for her son's safety and his future,
[00:23:51] and it forced her to make a tough choice. Where is your son right now?
[00:23:55] [youth mother] He's in the detention center.
[00:23:56] And why is he still in the detention center?
[00:23:59] Because I am not bailing him out.
[00:24:03] I don't think that...
[00:24:09] bailing him out is what is going to support him.
[00:24:14] He would learn outside with the same group of people
[00:24:17] that he got arrested with.
[00:24:20] I think...
[00:24:22] overall, unfortunately,
[00:24:25] he is safer there.
[00:24:31] [Ioanna] Is that your hope that it will deter? That bail reform will deter?
[00:24:34] [youth mother] I do hope bail reform...
[00:24:37] helps because until...
[00:24:40] there's somebody able to kind of push back,
[00:24:43] I think at the people telling them,
[00:24:45] like, "You'll get money, but go and do this for me,
[00:24:48] because if I do it, I get 15 years.
[00:24:50] If you do it, you get to go home to your mom."
[00:24:55] I don't think the adults are going to stop
[00:24:57] using kids, you know?
[00:25:00] It's also, like, really pathetic to use a child
[00:25:04] for financial gain.
[00:25:06] It's pretty sickening.
[00:25:20] Hi there Canada.
[00:25:24] The funny, not so funny thing about the
[00:25:27] world right now is the thing you maybe didn't see coming.
[00:25:32] My favorite word? Tariff. Minimum 10% tariff on
[00:25:36] all imports. We're already hearing about layoffs. He is
[00:25:40] trying to break us.
[00:25:43] So you have questions. How should Canadians be preparing
[00:25:47] for that next trip? How seriously are you taking
[00:25:49] this threat? How is Hamilton bracing for
[00:25:52] tariff impact? And while your elbows have been
[00:25:55] up, elbows up, for us it's the sleeves rolled
[00:25:57] up. Because you need answers.
[00:26:01] Our journalists countrywide and all over the world are on the
[00:26:06] case. Canada, we got you and we are right
[00:26:09] there, right beside you trying to make
[00:26:13] sense of it with you.
[00:28:28] We're on St. Mary's Bay in Nova Scotia,
[00:28:30] the richest part of Canada's billion dollar lobster industry,
[00:28:34] where there's a war on the water.
[00:28:37] -Go home. -You go home, lady.
[00:28:40] [Steven] Intimidation and frequent threats of violence.
[00:28:43] Places burning down, windows getting smashed in.
[00:28:46] Houses being shot up, people getting shot at.
[00:28:49] You hear stories that's a little lawless sometimes around rural Nova Scotia.
[00:28:52] The fight over who gets to fish here
[00:28:54] has left communities bitter and divided.
[00:28:57] [Matthew] We're not pirates, we're not the villains. [Steven] Does racism play a role here,
[00:29:01] -do you think? -Uh... No.
[00:29:04] A dispute with roots older than Canada itself.
[00:29:07] Lobster's not going anywhere. [laughs]
[00:29:10] It's been around for a very long time.
[00:29:12] [Steven] We look at who's cashing in on the chaos.
[00:29:14] I'm sick of it, there's nothing to do with conservation. It's just, it's total greed.
[00:29:18] We ain't [bleep] going anywheres neither.
[00:29:21] [Steven] That's next week on The Fifth Estate.
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[00:30:39] [Asha Tomlinson] It's a scam that targets vulnerable teens.
[00:30:42] So she says, "Wow, you are looking good."
[00:30:45] An innocent exchange that leads to sexual extortio.
[00:30:50] There is no other scam that involves targeting children,
[00:30:53] coercing them into a sexually compromising situation.
[00:30:56] [Asha] We find criminals cashing in on fear
[00:30:59] all the way from Nigeria...
[00:31:01] Why do you scam people?
[00:31:05] [Asha] ...and uncover the tragic truth