Pubdate: Sat, 15 Jun 2013
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2013 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Patrick White and Renata D'Aliesio, with reports from Kaleigh
Rogers, Cynthia McQueen and Shannon Kari
Page: A8

MEN PHOTOGRAPHED WITH TORONTO MAYOR AMONG THOSE CHARGED IN MASSIVE GANG 
SWEEP

Twenty-eight people face a combined 300 charges after police conducted
a year-long investigation into drugs and violence

Two of the young men who appear in a photograph with Mayor Rob Ford
have been named by police as members of a violent Etobicoke gang and
face an array of criminal charges, according to court documents
released on Friday.

Police arrested Mohammad Khattak and Monir Kasim along with 26 others
in a dramatic gang sweep on Thursday. The busts focused on several
residential towers notorious for guns and drugs lining Dixon Road
between Islington and Kipling avenues.

Both men are listed in court documents among a group of people charged
with trafficking cocaine for the Dixon City Bloods, the Etobicoke gang
at the centre of a year-long investigation called Project Traveller.

Mr. Khattak is also charged with trafficking marijuana, while Mr.
Kasim faces several other changes, including trafficking weapons and
marijuana for the gang, theft and failing to comply with conditions of
his house arrest in April, and conspiring to obtain a gun around May.

On May 16, a photograph showing the blurred faces of Mr. Khattak and a
previously unidentified man alongside homicide victim Anthony Smith
and Mr. Ford emerged with reports in the Toronto Star and the New-York
gossip site Gawker.com of an alleged video showing Mr. Ford smoking
crack cocaine. A source with knowledge of the people in the photograph
told the Globe Thursday the unidentified man was Mr. Kasim.

According to both media outlets, the man trying to sell the alleged
video supplied the snapshot as evidence of the mayor's connections to
the drug scene. The story and the accompanying photo have dogged the
mayor of Canada's largest city for nearly a month - spurring six
departures from his office staff and leading to a call from one
councillor that he take a leave of absence. Of the four men in the
picture, one - 21-year-old Anthony Smith - is dead, and two are in
custody. The fourth, Mr. Ford, has declined to answer questions about
his relationship to the three young men in the photograph taken
outside 15 Windsor Road, a home occupied by a childhood friend of the
mayor and situated 300 metres from the site of Thursday's raids.
Dennis Morris, Mr. Ford's lawyer, has said that the mayor has his
photo taken with many people every day and likely would have no
recollection of the photo ever being taken.

The mayor, who has provided a brief statement responding to the crack
video allegations - "I do not use crack cocaine, nor am I an addict of
crack cocaine" - said on Thursday he was proud of the police work in
his city. Mr. Smith was killed on March 28 in a shooting that wounded
Mr. Khattak.

Mr. Kasim's mother, Fatima Mukhtar, said her son's arrest has been a
nightmare. Meanwhile, Mr. Khattak's lawyer, Nathan Gorham, said Mr.
Khattak was devastated by a decision to deny him bail.

At a morning news conference on Friday, police revealed that Project
Traveller led to a previous arrest in Mr. Smith's slaying and promised
more arrests against the now-depleted Dixon City Bloods.

The gang is based along the Dixon Road corridor, but its tentacles
stretch from U.S. border crossings in Windsor all the way to Alberta,
said Staff Supt. James Ramer, standing next to a display of 40
sub-machine guns, hand-guns, sawed-off shotguns and other firearms
seized in the operation.

"This is not a low-level street gang," he said. "They are extremely
well organized and extremely violent."

Among the 300 charges laid on Thursday, two were for attempted
murder.

Ayanle Omar, who faces a total of 19 charges, is accused of stabbing
James Antoine Bedford on May 19. Two days later on May 21, police
allege Arafat Mousa tried to shoot and kill Ahmed Siad.

The precise locations of the attempted murders are not listed in the
court documents.

Supt. Ron Taverner, commander of the North Etobicoke police district
where most of the raids took place, vowed that the conclusion of
Project Traveller would mark the beginning of Project Clean Slate,
intended to keep a lid on attempts to fill the criminal void left by
the arrests and make good with Dixon Road residents shaken up by the
raids.

Part of that involves the constant presence of the Somali Outreach
Team, which arrived shortly after the arrests and will maintain a
visible presence for months to come. "We're here to mend fences,"
Sergeant Chris Laush said Friday morning.

They are trying to placate residents such as LIana Lima, who says she
plans to move from the Dixon Road area. "I would stay," she said, "if
things got better."
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MAP posted-by: Matt