Original Broadcaster Captioning (Enhanced). Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:01:44[tense music playing]
00:01:49[indistinct chatter]
00:01:57of a violent criminal network
00:01:59responsible for home invasions and robberies.
00:02:03[Ioanna] Over in neighbouring Peel region,
00:02:05the alarming jump in jewelry store robberies
00:02:07and home invasions prompted police
00:02:09to create a task force called Project Night Train.
00:02:13Police announced the results of the crackdown this past Ju.
00:02:17We have identified 13 individuals
00:02:19responsible for these crimes.
00:02:24[Ioanna] We met with Inspector Sean Brennan and the team behind Project Night Train
00:02:28in Mississauga.
00:02:29They gave us a behind-the-sces breakdown of the investigatio.
00:02:32Many of the suspects, they sa, are just kids.
00:02:35You know, we've never seen the prevalence
00:02:37of young persons committing crimes at these levels ever.
00:02:41It's disturbing when
00:02:44we are talking a three-year average here in central robbery for the Region of Peel,
00:02:47and 40% of our offenders are young persons.
00:02:50Escalation of violence is the worst we've seen in this office by far.
00:02:54And over property and stuff too. You are scarring these people for life.
00:02:58So six of the 13 arrested being Young people...
00:03:02it's not just a problem that we're having case specific,
00:03:05for us it's kind of a trend region-wide, GTA-wide.
00:03:09Something we're trying to obviously get ahead of,
00:03:12figuring out the recruitment process.
00:03:15[Ioanna] What's emerging, police say is minors
00:03:17being approached by adults.
00:03:19Is there a master who's kind of
00:03:22controlling the show, or how is this happening? [Shoniker] It seems like
00:03:25there's a network on social media.
00:03:26It's usually young people at risk are met
00:03:29by somebody who we would call the organizer.
00:03:33They exchange phone numbers, they create these group chats
00:03:36and when they're ready to go do-- identify a target,
00:03:39they'll put it out on the group chat to who's up to doing them.
00:03:43They call it a mission. They'll organize a spot to meet.
00:03:46So in essence these people, the offenders getting together,
00:03:49may 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
00:03:57shows us one of the most dramatic robberies Project Night Train investigated.
00:04:01He says the lack of connection between suspects
00:04:03makes identifying them even more of a challenge.
00:04:06Especially because they move so fast.
00:04:09[Shoniker] Now they're coming outside, As you can see, they're all holding bags,
00:04:12reusable shopping bags full of the stolen jewelry.
00:04:16What do you think when you see them
00:04:18start smashing away at the display cases? [youth mother] It's so disappointing,
00:04:22like, it really is.
00:04:25[Ioanna] This woman says her 16-year-old son
00:04:27is accused of taking part in multiple smash and grabs.
00:04:31I just don't think that he sees...
00:04:33the severity...
00:04:36of his charges.
00:04:39[Ioanna] She's speaking exclusively to The Fifth Estate.
00:04:42As a minor in custody the law does not allow her son to be named,
00:04:46and we cannot show you who she is
00:04:48in 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
00:04:54there was a group of adults
00:04:56that were recruiting them.
00:04:58I don't know where they're meeting them.
00:05:01I don't know...
00:05:03like-- I don't know if they're...
00:05:07you know, hanging out at, like, spots teenagers do.
00:05:10Is it at the mall? Like, I have no idea.
00:05:13What were these adults telling him and his friends?
00:05:19He said that he was approached by somebody
00:05:21who told him that he wanted to see,
00:05:25like, young teens make money and flourish.
00:05:30And he was like, "This guy just wants us to--
00:05:33he wants to see us do better
00:05:35because there's not a lot of options for us."
00:05:38I told him that it sounded very predatory.
00:05:42He was told that, you know, they have insurance.
00:05:45Right? So, like, it's a victimless crime.
00:05:50[Ioanna] She says her son was promised money,
00:05:52at least $2,000,
00:05:54and told as a minor he would get off easy.
00:05:57[youth mother] The messaging, I guess,
00:06:00that he was told was that...
00:06:03if he's under 18, he's a young offender.
00:06:07And if you're a young offender, then it just goes away
00:06:10once you become an adult, so none of it matters.
00:06:14[Ioanna] Over in York region, police are about to catch a break.
00:06:23after news that Toronto police arrested three minors.
00:06:28I believe they were arrested for a shoplifting incident in Toronto.
00:06:31And through that arrest,
00:06:33our investigators became engaged. There was information that led us to believe
00:06:37that those offenders were likely related
00:06:39to our robbery series that we've been investigating this week.
00:06:43Since then one of the investigators
00:06:45typed through the evening and was able to get
00:06:48a search warrant granted through a justice of the peace.
00:06:50So that search warrant allows us to go to a residence.
00:06:53That residence is in Toronto, and we're going to execute the search warrant.
00:06:57Three suspects come up with hammers. [Ioanna] Wow. To help make the case
00:07:00for that search warrant.
00:07:02Detective Constable Matt Milry says he pored over
00:07:05security camera footage tying the suspects
00:07:07to one of the stolen vehicles police had been watching.
00:07:11They parked it near an apartmt building in Toronto.
00:07:13From that video, we observed
00:07:15our suspects getting into a taxi.
00:07:18We were able to identify the taxi company,
00:07:20and then through the taxi company,
00:07:23found the trip records of where those suspects were driven to.
00:07:27Which was an address in Toronto.
00:07:29So then we go to get video from that apartment building.
00:07:33So the video here is the taxi arriving with our suspects.
00:07:36That's them exiting? That's them exiting and then they're going to enter the building.
00:07:41What do you expect to find or hope to find? So we're hoping to find evidence of the offense.
00:07:45So we're looking for clothing, any types of weapons,
00:07:47tools that may have used in the robberies,
00:07:50items that may have been taken during the robberies.
00:07:55[Ioanna] Moments after officers arrived on the scene,
00:07:57another unexpected lead.
00:08:00We were told to hang back until they got inside.
00:08:02Okay, so this is the unit here that the investigators are in.
00:08:05The door's just cracked open. It sounds like they're explaining a few things
00:08:09to the occupant that's inside.
00:08:10I've been told that there's one male adult inside
00:08:18removing the individual from the residence. He's under arrest right now for possession
00:08:22of property obtained by crime over 5,000.
00:08:24They seized a significant amount of jewelry within the residence.
00:08:38How big of a deal is it that you not only found
00:08:41stolen merchandise but yet another suspect?
00:08:44I mean, in this case, I think it's a great lead for our case.
00:08:49Not in every case do you recover amounts of stolen property.
00:08:53In this case, it certainly seems to be
00:08:55telling us that the property was destined for this location.
00:08:59Where it was going to go from here, I don't know.
00:09:02But it's certainly giving us that in-between point
00:09:05that we're always looking for.
00:09:09[Ioanna] In that cruiser, a 19 year old who now faces several charges
00:09:13related to a home invasion, possession of stolen vehicles
00:09:16and a jewelry store robbery.
00:09:19And in this case, because he's the, it seems right now to be the only adult,
00:09:23do you think he might be playing a more senior role
00:09:26in any of these crimes? He certainly could be.
00:09:29And those are all angles that we'll be looking for
00:09:32as the investigation, again, unfolds.
00:09:34By no means is the investigation completed here today.
00:09:37Is there other people out there that we don't know of?
00:09:40So potentially your spiderweb might only get bigger.
00:09:43It certainly can, yes.
00:09:48[youth mother] There's a lot of emotion. [Ioanna] This mother says she never expected
00:09:52her teenager would be facing robbery charges.
00:09:55I think that...
00:09:57my son heard, you know, the treasure
00:10:00that awaited him and kind of got baited with that.
00:10:04What was the appeal, you think?
00:10:07Money, freedom.
00:10:11They're going to be able to impress people
00:10:12and they're going to be able to wear certain clothes.
00:10:15People will say, where are their parents?
00:10:19They're watching horrifically from the sidelines.
00:10:25I think most parents...
00:10:29want the best for their children,
00:10:31and I don't think the best involves any of this.
00:10:35As a parent, you're worried about them being bullied at school
00:10:38and you're maybe worried about them doing drugs.
00:10:41You're typically not preparing yourself
00:10:45for them to...
00:10:56from a jewelry store and we also have
00:10:59broken glass in the bottom of the bag.
00:11:02So that's a pretty telling piece of evidence for us.
00:11:06[Ioanna] Back at York Police Headquarters,
00:11:08today's operation led to a surprise arrest
00:11:10and a trove of potential evidence
00:11:13that seems to tie back to those stolen cars
00:11:15police had been watching.
00:11:19So, like here, you can see glove marks.
00:11:23[Ioanna] And while this investigation moves forwd
00:11:26a bigger, disturbing pattern is also emerging.
00:11:30Young suspects out on bail reoffending.
00:11:35We're seeing the same players again and again and again.
00:11:38And you're seeing people re-victimized or new victims,
00:11:41and you know, that part's hard to watch.
00:11:44And 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
00:11:53by the Central Robbery Bureau
00:11:54were breaching prior release conditions.
00:11:57If you look at the numbers, the numbers don't lie.
00:11:59We're not-- The deterrent isn't there, so the messaging isn't there.
00:12:03And you know, these repeat offenders and this cycle of violence that's occurring...
00:12:07it has to stop.
00:12:08There's a lot of people who are talking tough on bail reform,
00:12:11but do you think the answer is to lock kids up?
00:12:14Excellent question.
00:12:17And a tough answer.
00:12:20When you look at the crime and the severity of the crime
00:12:23and the impact of the community and,
00:12:24you know, there should be a deterrent for violent crime.
00:12:28So we need to absolutely look at how do we get ahead of that
00:12:32with those community supports. But for those that are committing
00:12:35absolute violent crime, they have to be held to account.
00:12:39-[Ioanna] Coming up... -when you're directly
00:12:40investing in youth, you are preventing crime.
00:15:53[tense music playing] [Ioanna] Back at Jewelry Forever,
00:15:57after three attempted smash and grabs,
00:15:59Jerry Sorani and Joe Kasap are always on high alert.
00:16:03You always, like, looking over your shoulder per se,
00:16:07to do the business that you used to be doing it comfortably,
00:16:10now it's not comfortable anymore. We have all loyal customers
00:16:14which always, you know, coming back. But definitely it affects
00:16:17-the foot traffic. -Foot traffic, yeah. Definitely, it took that away.
00:16:19If somebody comes in with the hoodie, sunglasses, you're not coming in.
00:16:23At least you have a little bit, that little power because you have the doors locked.
00:16:27If I have, let's say, six, seven young kids, guys,
00:16:31want to come in at the same time, -Not at the same time. -...unfortunately, they're not going to come in.
00:16:34That's probably one of the biggest things
00:16:36you can do to prevent these from happening in the first place is being able to control entry.
00:16:40Look at your exterior,
00:16:42understand how they can get in,
00:16:44and either mitigate for your windows and your doors.
00:16:49I think having something to protect your front glass windows
00:16:52is a great idea, whether you're using film, laminate glass, or polycarbonate.
00:16:56And then inside, you want to look at
00:17:00some sort of security glass on your display cases,
00:17:03if possible, or limit the amount of jewelry
00:17:07that you actually leave out. So if you are victimized,
00:17:17at this location for 17 years.
00:17:19They've never had to be this careful, and they're not sure how much longer
00:17:23they can stay in business. Pleasure to meet you again.
00:17:26The insurance just keeps going to go up and up.
00:17:28And for me to pay $5,000 a month now
00:17:32because if you have incidents, it's going to be $10,000 a month.
00:17:35Third incident happened. Fourth incident happens. Insurance companies say,
00:17:39"Sorry, I cannot even insure you anymore." So, and-- when that--
00:17:43when that happened, how am I going to run my business?
00:17:46[Ioanna] In fact, remember that third robbery attempt on their store?
00:17:49It's part of that sprawling series of violent crimes
00:17:52we tracked with York police.
00:17:54And how do you feel that the June attack was connected
00:17:57to a string of other incidents?
00:18:00There is no consequences, right? When there's no punishment...
00:18:03The law has to...
00:18:05change for this to kind of come to a stop.
00:18:09What we need to do is scrap liberal bail.
00:18:13There's something broken when there is a revolving door
00:18:15in our justice system, particularly around bail.
00:18:18If people that are committing crimes
00:18:21are. Seeing a justice system
00:18:23that's not holding them accountable,
00:18:25that creates opportunity for more crime.
00:18:29[Ioanna] Rising calls led the federal government
00:18:30to announce a sweeping bail reform bill this fall.
00:18:34It would toughen sentencing and make bail harder to get,
00:18:37especially for violent and repeat offenders.
00:18:40And now they would have to prove to the court
00:18:42why they should be granted bal instead of the onus
00:18:45being on the crown to prove why they shouldn't.
00:18:48We're making bail stricter to keep you safer.
00:18:52You're focusing on the wrong thing.
00:18:55We need to be investing in our youth
00:18:58and investing in our youth's future.
00:19:01[Ioanna] Karla Bailey is the executive director of My Neighborhood Services,
00:19:05which runs out of this community hub in Mississauga.
00:19:08It has given thousands of young people a place to go
00:19:11and always something to eat.
00:19:13We ensure that food is in every single one
00:19:17of our youth programs.
00:19:19Are you hearing that people might be making those decisions
00:19:22because they need money for food? What are you hearing? There's a lot of different things.
00:19:26There's the food, the social media, what's going on.
00:19:29There is the wanting to fit in.
00:19:32There's the friends, there's the siblings.
00:19:36You can't just put one thing and say,
00:19:40this is what's causing it, right?
00:19:43"What's the most common crime committed
00:19:45by youth in Canada?" Okay.
00:19:49[student] Yes, it's theft under 5,000. That's the most common crime.
00:19:54Again, 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.
00:20:01And they start early, as young as middle school.
00:20:03We have mental health programs...
00:20:07that will say, okay...
00:20:10What is it that we can help you with...
00:20:13that supports this need?
00:20:16How can we help you...
00:20:21to do better?
00:20:23[Ioanna] Still, there are gaps, and she's trying to close the.
00:20:27Bailey's organization also helps young offenders
00:20:30get back on track. When we look at our...
00:20:35Youth Justice Reintegration program,
00:20:38that program...
00:20:41it is supposed to serve...
00:20:4560 youth.
00:20:47Last year it served 220 youth.
00:20:53What does that tell you?
00:20:54We all know prevention is so much better than cure,
00:20:58but we get to reintegrate them into society,
00:21:01give them the tools to succeed, to not reoffend.
00:21:08Have you guys been as busy since we left? -It has been, yes. -Yeah?
00:21:12It hasn't really slowed at all.
00:21:14[Ioanna] A few months after we first met with York police,
00:21:17we went back to speak to the head of its Hold-Up Un,
00:21:19Detective Sergeant Ryan Boulay.
00:21:22We had an uptick in home invasions this year.
00:21:25We're also trending up in our jewelry store robberies.
00:21:28[Ioanna] He told us the unit has added four new officers
00:21:31to investigate yet another spike in violent robberies.
00:21:35I'll tell you that in 2023 to 2024,
00:21:37we've seen our jewelry store robberies increase roughly 133%.
00:21:42And in 2025, we're trending upwards
00:21:44of that number that we've seen last year. It's kind of our five year high.
00:21:48What do you make of that?
00:21:50I mean, it's disturbing that it seems every time
00:21:54we make an arrest or an occurrence happens, another one seems to follow it.
00:21:57And that's not just, you know, strictly the York region.
00:22:00We're seeing that across the Greater Toronto area.
00:22:03[Ioanna] And getting to the people calling the shots
00:22:05is still a challenge.
00:22:07In a lot of cases, they're not willing to provide,
00:22:11if you want to call it, statements as to who had sent them there,
00:22:14who orchestrated it, and I'd imagine
00:22:16a lot of time that's fear of retaliation, right? You speak to the police, you're known as a rat,
00:22:20and you're gonna essentially, you know, you may not be
00:22:23in that good of a place when you get released from custody.
00:22:26How worried are you if there is no intervention?
00:22:29Certainly if there's no intervention, I would be willing to bet
00:22:33that there's really no positive outlook
00:22:36that's going to come for adulthood with those offenders.
00:22:38At the end of the day, we as the police, we get it,
00:22:40we need help as well to combat these types of crimes,
00:22:44especially when we're seeing such young offenders.
00:22:47[Ioanna] The home invasion case we told you about ended with convictions,
00:22:51including one for a young offender.
00:22:53But that night still haunts the family.
00:22:56[sister 2] It just felt very violating
00:22:58because it happened in our own house.
00:23:00Like, at night, when I go to sleep,
00:23:02I can't close my eyes.
00:23:04I feel like if I close them,
00:23:07and then I feel like they're standing right there
00:23:09at the doorway because that's when they stormed up and...
00:23:12that's when we first saw them. You didn't get a chance to talk to them,
00:23:16but if you did, what would you say to them?
00:23:19So I wanted to ask "Why you did this?
00:23:23What motivated you?" And then...
00:23:27"See what you have done?
00:23:29Do you think you're proud of what you have done?
00:23:32How far can they go doing this?
00:23:36This cannot take you far."
00:23:41[youth mother] Constantly wonder if it's the right decision for him,
00:23:44if 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,
00:23:51and 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.
00:23:56And why is he still in the detention center?
00:23:59Because I am not bailing him out.
00:24:03I don't think that...
00:24:09bailing him out is what is going to support him.
00:24:14He would learn outside with the same group of people
00:24:17that he got arrested with.
00:24:20I think...
00:24:22overall, unfortunately,
00:24:25he 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...
00:24:37helps because until...
00:24:40there's somebody able to kind of push back,
00:24:43I think at the people telling them,
00:24:45like, "You'll get money, but go and do this for me,
00:24:48because if I do it, I get 15 years.
00:24:50If you do it, you get to go home to your mom."
00:24:55I don't think the adults are going to stop
00:24:57using kids, you know?
00:25:00It's also, like, really pathetic to use a child
00:25:04for financial gain.
00:25:06It's pretty sickening.
00:25:20Hi there Canada.
00:25:24The funny, not so funny thing about the
00:25:27world right now is the thing you maybe didn't see coming.
00:25:32My favorite word? Tariff. Minimum 10% tariff on
00:25:36all imports. We're already hearing about layoffs. He is
00:25:40trying to break us.
00:25:43So you have questions. How should Canadians be preparing
00:25:47for that next trip? How seriously are you taking
00:25:49this threat? How is Hamilton bracing for
00:25:52tariff impact? And while your elbows have been
00:25:55up, elbows up, for us it's the sleeves rolled
00:25:57up. Because you need answers.
00:26:01Our journalists countrywide and all over the world are on the
00:26:06case. Canada, we got you and we are right
00:26:09there, right beside you trying to make
00:26:13sense of it with you.
00:28:28We're on St. Mary's Bay in Nova Scotia,
00:28:30the richest part of Canada's billion dollar lobster industry,
00:28:34where 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.
00:28:43Places burning down, windows getting smashed in.
00:28:46Houses being shot up, people getting shot at.
00:28:49You hear stories that's a little lawless sometimes around rural Nova Scotia.
00:28:52The fight over who gets to fish here
00:28:54has 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.
00:29:04A dispute with roots older than Canada itself.
00:29:07Lobster's not going anywhere. [laughs]
00:29:10It's been around for a very long time.
00:29:12[Steven] We look at who's cashing in on the chaos.
00:29:14I'm sick of it, there's nothing to do with conservation. It's just, it's total greed.
00:29:18We ain't [bleep] going anywheres neither.
00:29:21[Steven] That's next week on The Fifth Estate.
00:29:26Want more Fifth Estate? Sign up for our weekly newsletter,
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00:29:36you can't find anywhere else.
00:29:38Head to our website, cbc.ca/fifth to subscribe.
00:30:39[Asha Tomlinson] It's a scam that targets vulnerable teens.
00:30:42So she says, "Wow, you are looking good."
00:30:45An innocent exchange that leads to sexual extortio.
00:30:50There is no other scam that involves targeting children,
00:30:53coercing them into a sexually compromising situation.
00:30:56[Asha] We find criminals cashing in on fear
00:30:59all the way from Nigeria...
00:31:01Why do you scam people?
00:31:05[Asha] ...and uncover the tragic truth