Most charges made public but many details still unknown in Dixon raids

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Toronto police have released the names of most of the people arrested in last week's raid, but many questions about the details of the investigations remain unanswered.

Police named 35 out of the 44 people arrested under Project Traveller, a lengthy investigation into the alleged crimes of a Toronto gang called the Dixon City Bloods or the Dixon Goonies, that resulted in 220 charges laid after a raid on Thursday. Much of the gang's activity centred around an apartment complex at 320 Dixon Rd., according to police. The same building has been linked to the alleged video which purports to show Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine. The mayor has said he does not use crack cocaine and is not an addict.

The 42 tactical teams involved in the takedowns arrested men and women ranging in age from 18 to 62 years old, including people from Toronto, Mississauga, Woodbridge, Edmonton, Windsor and Detroit.

Nine of the people arrested under Project Traveller were not named, including two men who were separately charged with attempted murder in relation to the investigation: Ayanle Omar and Arafat Mousa. Mr. Omar is accused of stabbing James Antoine Bedford on May 19 and Mr. Mousa is accused of shooting at Ahmed Siad two days later. Police said they did not name the nine individuals because they were arrested before Thursday and are now facing subsequent charges.

"They face additional charges upon their transfer to Toronto. We will issue an update at that time but a news release is not the appropriate way of notifying these individuals that they will be facing more charges," Meaghan Gray, a Toronto police spokeswoman, said.

Some of the nine unnamed accused may be held in other jurisdictions, according to Ms. Gray.

As well, 10 people wanted in relation to the investigation are still at large, but police will not release details on who these individuals are, where they are from or what they're accused of doing.

Police received information about the alleged Ford vídeo before it was revealed in media reports, a source familiar with the investigation told The Globe and Mail.

Two of the men named are 20-year-old Monir Kasim and 19-year-old Mohammad Khattak, both of whom have been identified in a photo of Mr. Ford posing along with Anthony Smith, who was killed outside a nightclub earlier this year. Mr. Kasim was identified by a source with knowledge of the people in the photo, which was provided by the owners of the alleged crack video as evidence of Mr. Ford's involvement with the drug scene.

Mr. Kasim's mother, Fatima Mukhtar, visited him at the detention centre Monday. She disputed reports that her son is part of the highly publicized photo.

"He doesn't look like Monir," Ms. Mukhtar contended, adding her son has also told her that he is not in the Ford photo.

With reports from Renata D'Aliesio and files from Greg McArthur