6 Men Face Charges Following Southern Ontario Human Trafficking Probe

The Durham Regional Police East Division building is shown in Bowmanville, Ont. on March 15, 2025. The Canadian Press/Doug Ives

Six men have been arrested and charged in connection with a human trafficking investigation in Southern Ontario involving victims younger than 18, a Toronto-area police service says.

Officers from the Durham Regional Police Services human trafficking unit launched an ongoing initiative known as “Project Firebird” earlier this year to combat the purchase of sexual services from minors in the region located immediately east of Toronto, police said in a Feb. 9 press release.

Several individuals organized meetings for sexual services with minors, despite being fully aware that they were engaging in communication with underage individuals, police said.

Six men ranging in age from 22 to 50 were taken into custody “without incident” and are now facing 19 charges including luring a person for the purpose of obtaining sexual services under 18, police said.

Brampton resident Manish Singh, 22; Nickolas Chen, 24, from Markham; Leodee Ayoyao, 27, from Oshawa; Sarang Kapdi, 33, of Pickering; Christopher Smith, 39, from Oshawa; and Bruce Herrington, 50, from Ajax, also face charges of obtaining sexual services from someone under 18 and invitation to sexual touching of someone under 16, according to police.

All six men have been released on an undertaking.

Combatting human sex trafficking is just one aspect of Project Firebird, according to police. The initiative also aims to educate and assist victims, as well as potential victims, of these crimes, while responding to the concerns expressed by community members.

The charges come days after a 23-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy were charged with human trafficking-related offences by nearby York Regional Police.

York police said they received a tip on Jan. 27 that three missing girls from Quebec were believed to be in York Region. It was believed the girls were being sexually exploited, police said.

All three girls were found in Richmond Hill and Shaikh Sabahat of Toronto and a teenage boy have both been charged with three counts of exercising control, direction, or influence to someone under 18 years of age, being householders allowing sexual activity, and failing to comply with an undertaking.

Human Trafficking in Canada

Police-reported human trafficking cases have steadily risen across Canada over the past decade, with numbers more than doubling between 2014 and 2024, according to a report released by Statistics Canada last December.

There were 5,070 human trafficking incidents reported by police in Canada from 2014 to 2024. The 608 cases recorded in 2024 was roughly triple the number reported in 2014, StatCan said.

Public Safety Canada has said documented cases likely represent a small fraction of the suspected crimes.

“The extent of human trafficking, both in Canada and internationally, is difficult to assess due to the hidden nature of the crime, the reluctance of victims and witnesses to come forward to law enforcement and the difficulty of identifying victims,” the agency said on its website. “We know that anyone can fall victim to this crime, although women and girls represent the majority of victims in Canada.”

Agency statistics indicate that 93 percent of reported human trafficking cases in Canada involve women or girls and 22 percent of victims are younger than 18. The largest largest share of victims—41 percent— fall into the 18 to 24 age range and 24 percent are between 25 and 34.

While females make up the majority of victims, males make up the majority of the traffickers. The agency said 82 percent of those accused of human trafficking are men and boys.