A City Hall lobbyist says his home was raided last year by police who, new documents reveal, were following a trail of alleged gun trafficking as part of a criminal probe dubbed Project Traveller.
Tim Lambrinos, the executive director of the Adult Entertainment Association of Canada, says that the raid of his west-end home, also owned by his brother Chris Lambrinos, was a mistake and nothing was taken. Neither was charged.
The newly released 76-page police affidavit — one of dozens of Project Traveller documents made public Friday afternoon — says that officers followed a rented red Ford Taurus on April 24, 2013, that they believed was trafficking four guns from Windsor to the street in front of the Lambrinos’ home.
“They claim they were looking for drugs. We’re not drug users. I haven’t used any drugs in decades,” said Mr. Lambrinos, a former executive assistant to city councillor Giorgio Mammoliti. He said officers bashed through his door as he and his brother were watching television, and pointed a “machine gun” at his brother’s head. “They obviously made a mistake or sounds like someone is fabricating something. I’m not a criminal, I’m not involved in drugs or guns. I’ve never been to Windsor.”
The latest documents form part of a voluminous public record related to Project Traveller, the year-long probe into the Dixon City Bloods that resulted in a secondary investigation focused on Mayor Rob Ford.
Previously released excerpts of wiretap conversations capture alleged gang members talking about Mr. Ford, and his friend Alexander Lisi, who is charged with extortion regarding alleged attempts to retrieve the so-called crack video.
In the new documents, police say they heard wiretap conversations of two men allegedly discussing the trafficking of guns from Windsor.
The names of the occupants of the Taurus are blacked out in the document. They are described as a white male and his girlfriend, neither of whom have criminal records. The white male and his girlfriend were photographed at the Windsor Casino with Hashim Abdullahi on April 23, 2013, who was charged in Project Traveller with conspiracy and for participating in a criminal organization. The photographs are blacked out in the documents.
“I believe Ayanle Omar was inquiring how many firearms he had with him at which time Abdinaim Hussein told him that his contact, being the white male and his girlfriend, took four firearms with them and left Windsor,” wrote Det. Const. Shingo Tanabe of a wiretap.
Mr. Omar was charged with attempted murder among the 19 charges related to Project Traveller. Mr. Hussein faces at least three charges, including firearm trafficking.
Peter Jacobsen, a lawyer representing the National Post and other media outlets fighting for access to the information, said the new documents shed more light on the kinds of people Mr. Ford associated with.
“These are pretty serious people, these are a pretty serious segment of the criminal element. It certainly appears to be organized crime that uses everything from murder to extortion to selling drugs and selling firearms,” he said. “It’s not to say the mayor was involved in any of those activities but those were the people he was hanging with,” said Mr. Jacobsen, noting it left the mayor open to everything from “blackmail to extortion to God knows what.”
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No hint of police harassment in that story. Nope. Purely a coincidence that officers investigating a completely unrelated case would just stumble into the home of porn industry lobbyist, finding no evidence and declining to charge him with anything. But I’m sure it scared him plenty, as intended.
Of course. Nothing to see here…