Fugitives sought for murders in Canada nabbed
Weapons arsenal found after truck stopped in U.S.
When a Minnesota State Trooper stopped a pickup truck for speeding on a u.s. highway this week, he not only discovered an arsenal of 67 suspected crime guns inside but two Toronto fugitives — one wanted for murder and the other for the kidnapping of a wealthy Chinese student.
dayne Adrian Sitladeen, 29, and Muzamil Aden Addow, 29, are both wanted for high-profile crimes in Ontario.
Sitladeen is a popular Toronto rapper known as yung Lava who appeared in a 2019 documentary with hip hop star drake and others admonishing gun violence the same year he was at the top of the Toronto police’s Most Wanted list — considered armed and dangerous — until his name and photo were removed after his arrest
He is one of three men wanted for first-degree murder in the shooting death of Blain Grindley, a 26-yearold Toronto man killed in an Etobicoke home on May 1, 2019, police said at the time. The other two suspects have been arrested.
Addow was named as one of four men wanted by york regional Police for a bizarre kidnapping that made international headlines in March 2019. Three masked men grabbed Wanzhen Lu, a 22-year-old student at a private university, from the parking garage of his upmarket condo building in Markham, north of Toronto.
When Lu struggled, he was zapped with a stun gun and forced into a van driven by a fourth man. While a huge search was underway a ransom demand was made, but Lu escaped and banged on a door in cottage country, 200 kilometres north, asking for help.
Lu was known for a lavish lifestyle, including his Lamborghini, rolls-royce and range rover. When he was grabbed, he was wearing a $2,000 Gucci Guccify hoodie.
Addow was wanted for seven charges, including kidnapping, forcible confinement and assault with a weapon. He was also wanted by Toronto police on 15 gun charges.
Their run ended Sunday. Shortly after 10 p.m., a Minnesota State Trooper driving east on Interstate 94 passed a pickup truck that was heading in the opposite direction at a high speed.
He turned, caught up and pulled over the Chevrolet Silverado with Texas plates. It had been rented from Hertz, according to a criminal complaint filed in court.
The driver handed the trooper an Ontario driver’s licence in the name of Zakaria Taajir, according to the complaint. The passenger turned over a Florida identification card.
The pair couldn’t get their story straight, the trooper said. The driver said he was on his way to Fargo to work for his uncle’s construction company and rented the truck at Minneapolis airport after flying in from Canada with his passenger. He couldn’t tell the trooper the name of the construction company, the trooper said.
The passenger, however, said he lives in Minneapolis and didn’t fly in with the driver but was going to work at the same construction job.
The trooper asked the driver to accompany him to his squad car.
There, according to the complaint, he told the trooper he just met his passenger a month ago through his cousin. When the trooper spoke to the passenger, he said he had known the driver for more than a year.
The trooper said he smelled marijuana in the truck. He asked the driver for permission to search it. The driver said he could search the truck but not the content of the bags or himself.
The trooper pat searched both for weapons and told them to stand away while he opened the back door of the truck. He saw several duffel bags and backpacks on the back seat and floor.
He opened a bag and saw about a dozen guns and high-capacity magazines inside and he immediate radioed for back up, according to the complaint.
He ordered the pair to put their hands on their head.
The driver at first disregarded the order and tried to make a call on his cell and then appeared to have a brief conversation on his Apple watch, the complaint says.
When other officers arrived, investigators found the passenger was Sitladeen and wanted by the u.s. Marshals Service at the request of Canada for murder and fentanyl distribution, authorities say.
He was arrested by the troopers.
The driver, thought to be named Taajir, was arrested for carrying a firearm without a permit but after speaking with Toronto police, he was identified as Muzamil Aden Addow. He, too, was wanted in Canada, u.s. authorities were told.
Officers found 67 guns and numerous magazines in four bags in the truck, according to the complaint. One was loaded with live ammunition.
Both men were in the u.s. illegally. They were found to be Canadian citizens with no record of a legal border crossing. under u.s. federal law, illegal aliens are not allowed to possess a firearm.
“We are aware of the arrests,” Const. Caroline de Kloet of Toronto police said. “However, we are unable to confirm at this stage whether an arrest has been made in regards to our homicide investigation.”
Const. Laura Nicolle, of york police, confirmed their detectives were notified of Addow’s arrest and are working to have him return to Canada. Sitladeen and Addow appeared in court in Minneapolis on Thursday, where they were ordered to remain in custody pending a detention hearing.