Man found guilty after judge finds he was key player in drug ring

The court saga of one of the biggest Ottawa police drug busts in history continued Friday as an Ontario judge convicted a man who represented himself with conspiring as part of a multimillion-dollar drug network that cops dismantled in 2011.

Superior Court Justice Kevin Phillips found Ghassan Zahran, 36, guilty of conspiring as part of a cocaine and heroin distribution network that moved drugs from Toronto and Montreal into Ottawa by the kilogram. An 18-month undercover investigation by multiple police forces called Project Sleepwalker netted charges — some of which have since been withdrawn — against 22 men.

Phillips ruled that Zahran was a key player in the drug ring, which was “quarterbacked” by Ahmad Rezai, who pleaded guilty to the charges against him and is currently serving an eight-year prison sentence.

Surveillance on Rezai showed him making drug runs to Montreal and Toronto, often driving off highways only to re-enter them on other on-ramps in what was to Phillips clear measures to throw police off his trail. Detectives intercepted the kingpin referring to “movies” in wiretapped conversations — not DVDs but drugs packaged in a way to resemble old VHS tapes.

For Phillips, the connection between Rezai and Zahran was undeniable and overwhelming.

“No one should be convicted of anything for merely being the friend of a drug dealer,” Phillips said. But Zahran was “far from just a hangaround.”

Police listened in on conversations in which Zahran had “paper” for Rezai, once totalling $6,000 in a single dropoff.

Zahran went with Rezai to purchase a Jaguar knowing full well that his friend had no “legitimate source of income,” Phillips said.

Surveillance evidence showed the pair together at a shopping mall asking questions about how BlackBerry phones, known for their high-level encryption, work. Cops watched them going to meet an unknown man at the Ottawa Heart Institute. Zahran returned to the vehicle in which Rezai was waiting with a large bundle of cash.

At one point, the two tripped over their own coded language and couldn’t keep the gender or subject of their conversations straight. A “girlfriend” that needed to be picked up from the airport became a man, and the “thing” that one needed to give to him or her became a “letter.” It wasn’t an inside joke, Phillips said, it was drug dealers attempting to do business without tipping off police.

A secret camera legally planted by cops recorded Zahran sitting calmly as Rezai ran what Phillips called a “jaw-dropping” amount of cash through a money counter. The audio recording catches them talking about how to wipe phones of their data.

Zahran was arrested on Dec. 5, 2011 when he was pulled over with $45,280 in cash, the approximate street value of a kilo of cocaine, and a small amount of the drug in his car while driving between Toronto and Ottawa after cops on his trail saw him meet with a man in a movie theatre parking lot. That man was later pulled over and found to be in possession of a kilo of cocaine.

Phillips ruled that Zahran was “well in the know” of Rezai’s drug outfit, namely because he was “an important part of it.”

Yet, Phillips found that a second man, who was sitting alone playing a video game in a one-bedroom apartment used as a stash house when police kicked in the door as part of their drug raids, was “merely an invited guest.”

Moustafa Jabara, 28, was acquitted of all counts against him after the prosecution alleged that he dealt drugs and maintained the stash house on Ogilvie Road.

The apartment was rented in another co-conspirator Aissa ElZein’s name. El-Zein pleaded guilty to charges against him and is serving a 12-year sentence.

The Crown asked Phillips to convict Jabara of possessing everything found in the apartment — drugs, guns, cash and paraphernalia. Yet, while El-Zein was a player in Rezai’s network, there wasn’t evidence that linked Jabara to him or what he built.

“While I am very suspicious, I cannot conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Jabara is guilty.”

Zahran is next scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 4.