Elamin trial focuses on guns and ammo
The guns were easy to conceal, with lots of firepower ready to go. Testimony from OPP officers in the trial of Tariq Elamin, facing several firearms charges following a Highway 3 crash, focused Wednesday on the two guns and ammunition found in the Lexus he was riding in.
Essex County OPP Const. Sergio Licata said one of the guns — a rifle with a collapsible stock and loaded magazine — was stuffed in the right side of Elamin’s jogging pants. “It had a magazine in it something similar to what we have in our assault rifles,” said Licata. Satvir Singh, the second man charged in the case, has pleaded guilty to possession of a prohibited weapon (a sawed-off shotgun), carrying a prohibited weapon in a careless manner, and possession of a prohibited firearm with ammunition without holder of licence. Elamin’s trial began Tuesday after he pleaded not guilty. The trial was adjourned following Wednesday’s testimony until the end of November.
The charges stem from an April 26, 2017, head-on collision between a Lexus and a Volkswagen on Highway 3. It happened shortly after 9 a.m. between Sexton Side Road and Oldcastle Road. Efforts to help the two men trapped in the Lexus quickly turned into a criminal probe after the discovery of guns and ammo in the car.
Court previously heard that after Singh was pulled from the driver’s seat, paramedics found a bandolier full of shotgun shells strapped across his chest. At about the same time, firefighters and paramedics working to free Elamin from the front passenger seat realized he had a gun in his pants. Witnesses testified that Elamin also had a white mask hanging around his neck.
Const. Milan Matovski, in the canine unit, was called to help close the road. Shortly after arriving, he received a radio “distress call” that there was a man with a gun and a second with ammunition. Just before 10 a.m., Matovski said he was called to search the Lexus with his dog, Maximus. He said Maximus climbed into the car and suddenly started breathing heavily through the nose, which is a sign he detected the scent of a firearm. The dog zeroed in on the driver’s seat.
Matovski said he looked under the seat to find a red and white shoebox. He opened it. There was a sawed-off shotgun so short that it fit entirely in the shoebox. “There was no barrel,” said Licata. Identification officer Const. Paul Crilley said the stock and barrel on the shotgun were both shortened. The serial number was removed. The bandolier had 25 shells loaded into it. The shells and the shotgun were both 20-gauge, he said. The gun found on the passenger was a .22 calibre rifle, said Crilley. It had a “hinged stock” so it can be “collapsed to store or conceal.” The rifle also had a pistol grip, laser sight and magazine loaded with 19 bullets. Crilley said the rifle had been scratched repeatedly below the ejection port, likely to obscure the serial number. Licata said he arrived at the frenzied scene after the ammo and rifle were first discovered. A couple of ambulances were parked on the road, blocking his view of the crash. He started walking toward them. “Numerous paramedics were running toward me yelling, ‘Gun, gun, gun!’ ” said Licata. “It was panic.”
He pulled out his weapon and ran between the ambulances. Licata said he saw another officer on the passenger side of the Lexus with his gun drawn. “There were people everywhere, but scattering,” he said. Fellow officer Const. Rene Tamminga was struggling with the man in the passenger seat.
“It was an intense situation,” said Licata.
He said Tamminga pulled a gun from the right side of the man’s jogging pants. The rifle was long and black with a magazine loaded into it, he said.
“It looked like an assault rifle.”