Twenty-Three Guns Came Out of an Undercover Operation and Thirty-Seven of the Trafficking Counts Landed on Two People: Peel Ties a Recovered Firearm to a March 2024 Mississauga Homicide and Names No Organization At All (Originally Reported September 22, 2026)
Peel Regional Police published a release on Tuesday, September 22, 2026 describing an undercover operation its Specialized Enforcement Bureau ran against a firearm trafficking network working across the Greater Toronto Area. Project Red Zone opened in October 2025 and stayed active until July 2026, and the force says officers worked it alongside the United States Department of Homeland Security and Criminal Intelligence Service Ontario. The operation produced 23 firearms, 824.75 grams of cocaine and 951 rounds of ammunition. Fifteen of the 23 guns originated in the United States, several are prohibited in Canada, and forensic analysis tied the seized firearms to 14 shootings across the GTA. One of them is tied to a homicide in Mississauga in March 2024 in which one man was shot dead and a second was seriously hurt. Four people are charged, and the release names no criminal organization of any kind.
The gun that goes back to a homicide
The single most consequential sentence in the release is the one about March 2024. Peel says one of the firearms recovered through Project Red Zone has been linked to a Mississauga homicide in which one male was fatally shot and another sustained serious injuries. That is all of it. The release does not name the person killed, does not give the date in March, does not give the address or intersection, does not say whether anyone was ever charged in that homicide, and does not say whether the firearm link has moved the homicide file forward or whether it remains open.
A firearm that surfaces in an undercover trafficking operation two years after a killing is either the beginning of a homicide prosecution or a dead end, and the release does not indicate which. None of the four people charged in Project Red Zone is charged with anything in connection with the 2024 death.
Fourteen shootings, no shooting counts
Forensic analysis linked the seized firearms to 14 shootings across the GTA. The four charge sheets contain no count for discharging a firearm, no count for any of those 14 shootings, and no attempted murder or aggravated assault count. Every charge laid is a trafficking, possession or compliance offence. The 14 shootings sit in the release as a measure of what the guns did after they moved, attached to no one.
The release does not say in which municipalities the 14 shootings occurred, over what period, whether anyone was injured or killed in any of them beyond the March 2024 homicide, or whether any of the 14 files has an accused.
Four accused, and a very uneven distribution
Thirty-seven of the firearms trafficking counts in this file land on two people. Stephen Prakash Consala, a 24-year-old man from Scarborough, is charged with 23 counts of firearms trafficking — one for every gun in the seizure — along with trafficking ammunition, nine counts of trafficking in a controlled substance, and failing to comply with a release order. Akshaya Srikanthan, a 24-year-old woman from Ajax, is charged with 11 counts of firearms trafficking and seven counts of trafficking in a controlled substance.
The other two are far behind. Janoj Dhayabaran, a 23-year-old man from Toronto, faces three counts of firearms trafficking and one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking. Sammy Shaik, a 28-year-old man from Mississauga, faces a single count: trafficking ammunition.
Consala and Dhayabaran were held pending a bail hearing. Srikanthan and Shaik were released and will appear before the Ontario Court of Justice at a later date. The release does not give any of the four court dates, does not say whether the release-order breach Consala is charged with arises from an earlier unrelated file, and does not describe the roles the four are alleged to have played relative to one another.
The four charged
- Stephen Prakash Consala, 24, of Scarborough — Firearms Trafficking x23; Trafficking Ammunition; Trafficking in a Controlled Substance x9; Fail to Comply with a Release Order. Held pending a bail hearing.
- Akshaya Srikanthan, 24, of Ajax — Firearms Trafficking x11; Trafficking in a Controlled Substance x7. Released, to appear in the Ontario Court of Justice at a later date.
- Janoj Dhayabaran, 23, of Toronto — Firearms Trafficking x3; Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking. Held pending a bail hearing.
- Sammy Shaik, 28, of Mississauga — Trafficking Ammunition. Released, to appear in the Ontario Court of Justice at a later date.
What the release publishes — and what it does not
- Published: the project name; the operating window, October 2025 to July 2026; the lead unit, the Specialized Enforcement Bureau; the partner agencies, U.S. Homeland Security and Criminal Intelligence Service Ontario; the seizure totals of 23 firearms, 824.75 grams of cocaine and 951 rounds of ammunition; that 15 firearms originated in the United States and several are prohibited in Canada; that forensics linked the firearms to 14 GTA shootings and one to a March 2024 Mississauga homicide; the four names, ages, home municipalities and full charge lists; custody status for each; the Ontario Ministry of the Solicitor General as the funding source; and the year-to-date figure of 125 crime guns seized by Peel in 2026.
- Not published: the make, model or calibre of any of the 23 firearms; how many of the 23 were handguns; which of the 23 is the one tied to the homicide; the name of the person killed in March 2024, or the date, address or status of that investigation; the locations or dates of the 14 linked shootings; how the four accused are alleged to relate to one another; where the undercover purchases took place; any court date; how many undercover transactions took place; and whether the cocaine came from a single seizure or several.
- Named organization: none. Peel describes a “firearm trafficking network” and does not name a criminal organization, street gang or motorcycle club anywhere in the release.
Timeline
- March 2024A homicide in Mississauga in which one male is fatally shot and a second sustains serious injuries. Peel does not name the victim or give a date within the month.
- October 2025Peel Regional Police’s Specialized Enforcement Bureau launches Project Red Zone, an undercover operation against a firearm trafficking network operating across the GTA, with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Criminal Intelligence Service Ontario.
- July 2026The undercover operation ends. Over its run it produces 23 firearms, 824.75 grams of cocaine and 951 rounds of ammunition.
- Date not publishedForensic analysis traces 15 of the seized firearms to the United States and links the seized firearms to 14 shootings across the GTA, including one firearm to the March 2024 Mississauga homicide.
- Dates not publishedStephen Prakash Consala, Akshaya Srikanthan, Sammy Shaik and Janoj Dhayabaran are arrested and charged. Consala and Dhayabaran are held for bail; Srikanthan and Shaik are released.
- September 22, 2026Peel Regional Police publish the release, two months after the operation closed, with a quotation from Deputy Chief Nick Milinovich.
What Deputy Chief Milinovich said
Deputy Chief Nick Milinovich is the only person quoted. He calls the file a demonstration of “the value of intelligence-led policing and the importance of collaboration across jurisdictions,” and says the illegal firearms trade “is increasingly interconnected, requiring law enforcement agencies to work together, share intelligence, and coordinate enforcement efforts.” The release adds that the investigation was made possible by funding from the Ontario Government through the Ministry of the Solicitor General, with Criminal Intelligence Service Ontario supporting it, and closes with a figure for context: Peel Regional Police has seized 125 crime guns so far in 2026. Twenty-three of those 125 came out of this one operation.
Lead unit; ran the undercover operation
American partner agency named in the release
Supported the investigation; funding channelled through it
Peel Regional Police; the only person quoted
Sources
- Peel Regional Police news release, “Project Red Zone: Undercover Operation Seizes 23 Firearms, Including One Linked to Mississauga Homicide,” Tuesday, September 22, 2026, Incident PR250304832, N/R 26-141 — peelpolice.ca
None of the charges described here has been tested in court and all four accused are presumed innocent. No criminal organization, street gang or outlaw motorcycle club has been named by Peel Regional Police in connection with this operation, and none is attributed here. The March 2024 Mississauga homicide is described only as Peel describes it; no accused has been announced in that file in this release.