24 arrests as part of Hamilton, Ont. street gang investigation, with ties to Toronto, Waterloo and Brantford

A Hamilton Police officer is seen in this undated photo. (Twitter/@HamiltonPolice)

Police in Hamilton, Ont. have arrested 24 people as part of a street gang investigation with connections to Toronto, Halton, Waterloo and Brantford.

In total, the accused are facing 172 charges.

Some of them are also wanted for crimes in the Bahamas, including attempted murder.

The investigation

The investigation into the Hot Mali Squad (HMS), dubbed Project Churchill, began in 2019 after Hamilton Police noted a “significant” increase in violent crime in the city. Through these efforts, they were able to connect HMS members to shootings, homicides, robberies and drug trafficking cases.

According to Tuesday’s media release, investigators also determined that HMS was “operating as a criminal organization and had built strong links with members of the Dirty South operating in the GTA.”

Police explained that Dirty South was a faction of One Order, a Bahamian-based street gang, and its members were involved in smuggling and distribution of illegal firearms from the U.S.

Search warrants

On Nov. 13, police from Hamilton, Halton, Niagara, London, Peel and Waterloo Region, as well as Ontario Provincial Police, executed 17 search warrants in Hamilton, Niagara Falls, St. Catharines and London.

Officers arrested 24 people and also seized 14 guns, 880 grams of cocaine and 1.2 kilograms of fentanyl.

“The firearms seized in this investigation are crime guns,” explained Lee Fulford, with the OPP Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau, in the release. “They are not firearms legally obtained by responsible gun owners. They are obtained illegally with the intent to be used in criminal offences or trafficked to people who intend to use them in criminal offences.”

Police believe HMS “funds its operations primarily through drug trafficking and the sale of illegal firearms” and were mainly working in the Hamilton-area, specifically, Barton Street to Main Street and Queen Street to James Street. They added members were also living in highrises within their designated turf.

The release did not explain the group’s connection to Waterloo or Brantford.

List of arrests

Those arrested, and their charges, are:

Moustapha Abdallah, 20, from Hamilton

Abi Abdullah-Salah, 24, from Hamilton

Tareq Alawad, 28, from St. Catharines

Issa Bechir, 24, from Hamilton

Terry Blanchette, 57, from London

Trey Claybourne, 30, from London

Rashad Cooper, 36, from the Bahamas

Nathaniel Davidson, 39, from London

Sirak Solomon Eskias, 22, from Hamilton

Dushaun Gray, 30, from Hamilton

Yared Kidane, 18, from Hamilton

Devon Deon Laing, 29, from the Bahamas

Ryan MacDonald, 37, from London

Robert Mader, 41, from the Bahamas

Cathy Mingo, 62, from Hamilton

Nawal Mohammed, 18, from Hamilton

Ahmed Osman, 20, from Hamilton

Lisa Seabrook, 47, from London

Mazin Sharaf, 22, from Hamilton

Eric Hilton Stuart, 35, from the Bahamas

Marthide Wagnac, 31, from Miami, Florida

Sabrina Waite, 29, from Hamilton

Vada Warrick, 28, from St. Catharines

Filimon Embafrash Weldearegay, 24, from Hamilton

Unnamed female, 17, from Hamilton

A warrant has also been issued for Corey Salter, a 39-year-old from Hamilton, for trafficking fentanyl and methamphetamine.