Police have arrested three reserve members of the Canadian Armed Forces along with four others accused of staging a crypto kidnapping in Toronto. The seven-person gang now faces 82 criminal charges.
Police named Talarambage Fernando, 22, James Moreau, 29, and Jack Miley, 24, all of the 7th Toronto Regiment, as the three service members involved in the kidnapping. Fernando and Moreau hold the rank of bombardier.
The attack described by Staff Supt. Joe Matthews as a sign of the “increasingly sophisticated and targeted nature of crimes involving digital assets” sharply contrasts with the ad hoc crew of social media-recruited teenagers that have been arrested and prosecuted in France and the UK.
Reserve Canadian Army members kidnap investor for crypto
Police officers in Toronto opened the investigation on July 25 after receiving a report of an abduction near Finch and Bayview avenues.
As narrated by Staff Supt. Joe Matthews, the kidnappers demanded the victim’s cryptocurrency holdings and “business-related security systems” after handcuffing and assaulting him at gunpoint near his vehicle.
The victim said that the kidnappers warned him not to report to the police before letting him go. That warning did not work though, and police arrested two people after flagging the suspect vehicle within a day of the incident.
The perpetrator list has grown since then, with Police Chief Myron Demkiw and Matthews briefing reporters at a Toronto police news conference that seven people now face 82 charges, including kidnapping for ransom and forcible confinement and firearms offenses.
Toronto crypto kidnappers used stolen military ammunition
Toronto officers seized a shotgun, 2,500 rounds of ammunition, firearms fitted with 3D-printed receivers, GPS trackers, a crossbow with arrows, Canadian cash, and methamphetamine and cocaine from the gang.
They traced the seized ammunition rounds back to the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). The CAF confirmed it owned the ammunition, even though it had not flagged it as missing before the police seized it.
The 7th Toronto Regiment that the kidnapping suspects are attached to is a reserve artillery unit under Canada’s 32 Canadian Brigade based at the Moss Park Armoury on Queen Street East.
Demkiw pointed out the concern to the public and to officers when people with that level of training “prepared to engage in what is alleged here.”
France and UK crypto kidnappers are teenagers
The military background of the Toronto crew contrasts with the profile of attackers in Europe, especially France and the UK. France’s organized-crime prosecutor PNACO reports that shadowy organizers use social media to hire young, often first-time operatives.
French prosecutors have charged more than 10 minors since 2023. One of the suspects arrested in connection with an incident was a 17-year-old found playing video games at home.
Cryptopolitan reported that three Sheffield teenagers were jailed in February for a $4.3 million knifepoint theft after posing as delivery drivers.
Chainalysis counted 46 reported wrench attacks worldwide in the first half of 2026, with home invasions jumping from a single reported case in 2025 to 20, and more than $30 million stolen, on pace to pass 2025’s $58 million record.
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