Ottawa man among those charged in illegal firearms investigation
Posted May 28, 2015 03:29:08 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA – 107 charges have been laid against eight people after a five-month joint police operation targeting illegal firearms and drugs in eastern Ontario.
Project Harden involved Ottawa Police, the OPP, Cornwall Community Police, the RCMP, the Awkwesasne Mohawk Police, and the Canada Border Services Agency.
Search warrants were carried out Wednesday in Ottawa, Cornwall, South Glengarry Township, Akwesasne, and Longueuil, Quebec.
Police seized six prohibited hand guns, two restricted hand guns, an AK-47 assault rifle, a silencer, high capacity magazines, ammunition, cocaine, marijuana, and about $100,000 in cash.
27-year-old Masaed Rashed of Ottawa is charged with trafficking in a schedule 1 substance (cocaine), possession of proceeds obtained by crime over $5,000, possesson for the purpose of trafficking, and breach of recognizance.
“Ottawa has experienced a spike in gun violence directly attributed to street gans, the drug trade, and including two recent firearms homicides,” said Ottawa Police Acting Superintendent Joan McKenna. “Our committment and involvement in the Provincial Weapons Enforcement Unit has proven to be an effective way of addressing firearms trafficking that is putting firearms into the hands of Ottawa criminals.”
Those also facing charges are:
Pierre Nassif, 39, South Glengarry
Devin Lazore, 21, Akwesasne
Paul Nassifm 36, Cornwall
Hussein Yassin, 40, Cornwall
Sean Carl, 25, Cornwall
Francois Billard, 29, Cornwall
Sonia Bernier, 32, Saint Hubert, Quebec
One of the six buildings searched Wednesday is a Cornwall restaurant called Cedar’s On Wheels, located across the street from the Cornwall Police Station.
“I think I would characterize the location as bold,” said Cornwall Police Deputy Chief Dan Aikman. “However, once the project was underway, we were well aware of its location. I don’t know if it would be a common activity that an organized crime group would work out of a location directly across from the police station, but it certainly wasn’t missed.”
O.P.P. Superintendent Paul Beesley says so far, the weapons seized haven’t been tied to any shootings, but they are being traced though a ballistics database.
“Most of these firearms they have traced so far originate from legal gun markets in the United States,” said Beesley, “so they were trafficked to Canada and ended up in Cornwall.”
As for the restaurant across from the Cornwall Police station, Beesley said “the business was used as a place where these things were trafficked.”
