Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Project Traveller raid targeted home of peddler of alleged Rob Ford crack video

TORONTO - The home of an accused drug dealer, who reportedly tried to sell the alleged Rob Ford crack cocaine video, was searched by police during a massive anti-gang raid, a Toronto Sun lawyer said Monday.

And a judge also said some of the wiretap conversations in search warrants used in Project Traveller will remain secret.

Crown prosecutors in the Project Traveller gang case have released more than 40 addresses that police targeted during their massive drug and gang crackdown in June.

Lawyer Peter Jacobsen, who represents the Toronto Sun and other media organizations, said one of the addresses police targeted was the former home of Mohamed Siad.

His Dixon Rd. apartment was on the list of addresses that police had sought search warrants for in Etobicoke, Mississauga, Windsor, Barrie and Edmonton, Jacobsen said.

Siad, an alleged Dixon City Bloods gang member, reportedly tried to sell an alleged video that supposedly shows Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine. The video has never been recovered, although the Sun has reported Siad tried unsuccessfully to exchange the video for immunity on his charges.

The raids were meant to dismantle the Dixon City Bloods, a street gang based in Etobicoke.

Siad’s fourth-floor apartment is located at 320 Dixon Rd. — one of six highrise buildings considered the central hub of the Dixon City Bloods.

The gang’s tentacles reached as far as Windsor, Barrie and Edmonton and search warrants were also executed in those cities.

Police alleged the gang members sold powder “soft” cocaine, crack “hard” cocaine, firearms — and sometimes exchanged drugs for firearms.

Siad, 27, was busted during Project Traveller, and is facing charges for cocaine trafficking, weapons trafficking, unauthorized possession of a handgun, and participating in the activities of a criminal group.

Lawyers for media organizations, including the Sun, are fighting a court battle to have documents related to Project Traveller unsealed. A judge will soon make a decision on whether those documents should be unsealed.
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