The broadcaster quoted a “highly placed source” as confirming that “persons of interest discussed that video in detail, and referred to the mayor’s alleged presence in the video.”
The disclosure came as Toronto police Chief Bill Blair announced 43 people had been arrested, 40 firearms seized and $3 million worth of drugs confiscated in early morning raids concentrated on a Dixon Rd. complex.
The cluster of apartment towers is considered ground zero for the alleged Rob Ford crack cocaine video scandal.
Nineteen people in Toronto and nine in Windsor were charged as part of a year-long police and border security investigation code-named Project Traveller, Blair said at a noon news conference.
He declined to answer any questions about Ford’s connection to the evidence, what evidence was seized, how it was obtained or about a Rexdale home involved in the raids where a man photographed with Ford lived.
“The only place for the legal disclosure is in a court of law,” he said.
“All of the evidence has been secured and it will come out in court where it belongs. We will not jeopardize this case.”
The Rexdale home of Muhammad Khattak, one of the young men pictured with Ford outside a suspected crack house, was part of the raids.
The picture was given to the Star when two reporters independently watched the video.
Sources earlier told the Star that Ford had told staff he knew exactly where the video, which appeared to show him smoking crack cocaine, could be found: 1701 and 1703 at a Dixon Rd. apartment complex that was the target of the pre-dawn raids.
The mayor has said publicly that he doesn’t believe the video exists.
“Project Traveller is a very complex investigation” involving a gang called the Dixon City Bloods or Dixon Goonies that attempted to control guns and drug trafficking in the Dixon Rd., Kipling Ave. and Islington Ave. area, Deputy Police Chief Mark Saunders said at the news conference.
Their network extended to Edmonton and had operated since 2006, he said.
Edmonton police confirmed to the Star that officers executed search warrants Thursday morning, but would not say where or if anyone was arrested.
A spokesperson for the Edmonton police said that the investigation is being led by the Toronto Police Service and that officers in Edmonton were only assisting.
Two Star reporters independently viewed the video three times while sitting in a parking lot at the apartment complex that is involved in the raids.
“I'd love to see the video,” Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday said when asked about the huge cache of mobile phones, computer and other electronic devices seized during the raids.
“I think it would settle things.”
When he left his house at 8:45 a.m., Ford said he knew nothing about the raids as he walked quickly to his car.
“I have no idea what you are talking about.”
“The cable was out last night,” Ford said later at Toronto City Hall. “I know as much as you do. So I’ve heard it on the radio coming in.
“I haven’t talked to the chief. I don’t have any other information.”
Asked if he was part of the investigation, he said, “They can investigate all they want. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Police spokesman Mark Pugash told the Star that the mayor’s chief of staff, Earl Provost, called him to get information about the raids.
Blair said at the news conference that people were only briefed in advance about the raids “on a need-to-know basis. It is important that we retain secrecy.”
Police Sgt. Chris Laush told residents outside 320 Dixon, “This has nothing to do with Rob Ford.”
One police cruiser and two grey police identification vans pulled up early Thursday outside Khattak’s home on Mercury Rd., a 10-minute drive northwest of the Dixon Rd. apartments.
Five officers left the home around 7:30 a.m. One officer carried a file-folder-type brown box and others carried clear plastic evidence bags. One bag appeared to hold a Toshiba laptop.
Lights went out and the door clicked shut as a Star reporter approached the Khattak front door. No one replied to questions that were asked through holes in broken glass panes.
Star photographer Rick Madonik’s telephoto lens picked up police leaving with a handwritten inventory of cellphones confiscated during the raid.
One of the officers said “no comment” when asked if Khattak was in custody.
Khattak had been shot on the arm and back two months ago in the Toronto shooting that killed Anthony Smith, who was also in the now infamous photo.
Police arrested Munir Kassim around 6:10 a.m. outside a nearby coffee shop. He hadn’t been home at 390 Dixon Rd. when officers arrived, although he told the Star he was under house arrest.
He arrived midway through the raid, his shirt wet from rain.
As officers put him in the cruiser, he yelled, “All this for breach of probation?”
Police who arrested Kassim also confiscated the cellphones of all of his immediate family.
“They said they wanted the phones of anyone who had contact with Munir,” said the woman who would only identify herself as Munir's mother.
Police used a battering ram to open their door around 5 a.m., leaving a crescent-moon crater on the door.
Munir’s mother said he spent most of his adolescence in Egypt, travelling there at the start of high school and returning in December 2012.
“He was a wonderful kid. He wasn’t even in Canada for the past three years. He just came back. I took him away from this country. I moved myself to Egypt.”
She said Munir, 20, didn’t complete high school in Canada but was working towards his general equivalency diploma (GED).
“I don’t know what’s going on. We never had any police problems before with him,” she said.
“Of course I’m scared. They kicked in my door. This has never happened in my life.”
She said her husband and son sat handcuffed with the family in the living room for an hour and a half while police scoured the apartment. Her 4-year-old and 2½-year-old wailed.
“It's like a nightmare. You’re dreaming and the door just. . . ” she stopped abruptly and hit the crescent cut into her door.
By 8 a.m., Dixon Rd. residents were starting to leave for work and the police presence had dropped to just a few cruisers.
On the second floor of 320 Dixon, Albert Chaudry sat on his couch and wept. Bits of wood were scattered across his floor and a giant burn mark scorched his kitchen floor from the “flash bang,” which officers use to disorient people during a raid.
“It’s very humiliating to me. I’m not a gangster,” he said. “This is like killing a person for nothing.”
Police handcuffed Chaudry for around two hours, he said.
The 64-year-old was asleep when police smashed down his door around 5 a.m. to look for belongings of his nephew, who he said is in jail for drug offences.
This is the second raid on Chaudry’s home because of his nephew.
The search warrant said police were looking for items associated with “Dixon City Bloods, Dixon Crew or Dixon Blood City.”
Police wanted cellphones, telephone records, video and audio recordings, the warrant said.
At least five units in 320 were raided by police.
On the 21st floor of 320 Dixon, apartment 2102’s door knob dangled from the frame. The wood along the side of the door was splintered.
A woman who identified herself as Sarah was inside.
“Madina is my cousin. She’s an excellent mother,” said the young woman, referring to Madina Gasla, who had been arrested. “This whole thing is nuts.”
Two sets of plastic handcuffs lay on the carpet in front of apartment 1201, which also had a broken door lock.
A woman who answered the door said: “What happened happened and I don’t want to talk about it.”
A woman wearing a striped shirt and sweatpants who said her name was Madina had earlier sat in the back of a police car saying, “They’re arresting people for nothing! For f------ nothing!”
Amber Gasla said police broke down her door and that of her aunt, Madina Gasla, and took her into custody.
“That’s like my mother. That’s like my best friend. They went to her house and she was handcuffed,” said Amber.
Akbar Maghsoudi, 75, lives next door to one of the raided apartments.
When he got up as usual to feed stray cats outside, he said there was “a gun pointed at me.” Officers ordered him back inside.
The hallway was filled with police officers, “10 or 15 of them,” he said.
Maghsoudi said he has lived in 320 Dixon for 30 years. He said he doesn’t know his neighbours well, but they get along.
“I don’t interfere. Everyone has visitors. That’s not my business.”
Police broke the door of unit 1815 at 390 Dixon Rd. clean in half in the pre-dawn raid and arrested 22-year-old Abdullah Haroon, said a woman who identified herself only as his mother.
“We have no idea (why he was arrested),” said a woman who said she was Haroon’s sister.
Police told them to speak to their landlord about the door.
“They didn’t say anything else,” said Haroon's sister, who also said police didn’t remove anything from the apartment.
Shortly before 5 a.m., a flotilla of 50 police vehicles, including big black SUVs and Budget rental trucks, had sped along Dixon Rd. and into the parking lots of six condominium towers.
As they swung into the entrance of 390 Dixon Rd., three panel vans already had their doors opened before the vehicles stopped.
After about 10 minutes, one van reappeared to pick up the officers and their gear, including what appeared to be battering rams.
Shortly after, two more vans picked up police the same way.
By 5:55 a.m., police had walked one young man, wearing sweatpants, a T-shirt and loafers, his hands cuffed behind his back, to a waiting squad car.
A man in a green jacket and a woman wearing a hijab were both led by police from 330 Dixon Rd. into custody. Police also removed a bag of evidence from that building.
Many residents leaving for the morning said they didn’t hear anything. One woman who lives on the fourth floor said she awoke to loud noises.
“I just heard banging, banging, banging. A man was screaming.”
One resident of 320 Dixon Rd. was startled awake by banging sounds and looked into the courtyard to see police officers in tactical gear flooding into the building. Behind them, detectives in plain clothes carried empty bankers’ boxes.
Sgt. Matthew D’Asti confirmed Windsor police were assisting Toronto police in the Windsor area Thursday morning, executing several search warrants “targeting guns and drugs.”
Barrie Police’s tactical unit was in Toronto Wednesday night to assist Toronto Police with the raids and was back in Barrie by 9 a.m. Thursday.
Halton, Peel and the OPP confirmed that their officers were part of Project Traveller.
“We provided some assistance to Toronto,” said Halton Sgt. Dave Cross.
Sgt. Pierre Chamberland said the OPP was also assisting in Windsor and Toronto with their organized crime enforcement bureau and tactical rescue (SWAT) units.
“There were Peel police officers that were assisting Toronto,” said Const. Lilly Fitzpatrick. “Toronto is the lead on this.”
Const. Chris Stumpf said London police also sent tactical units to aid Toronto police in early morning raids.
Original Article
Source: thestar.com
Author: Star staff
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