GANGLAND KILLING
‘Wheelman’ gets 10 years
Two separate phone calls from former jailhouse compadres would set Alaa Asiri down a path that would land him in prison for 10 years.
Asiri, 34, originally charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping pleaded guilty Tuesday to the lesser charge of manslaughter for his role as wheelman, attacker and sometimes planner in the 2016 gangland kidnapping turned fatal shooting of Mohamed (Magic) Najdi.
The facts of the case revealed Tuesday, by Crown prosecutor Brian Holowka, in the first court proceeding for any of the seven accused men, show a planned, but foiled, plot to kidnap Najdi, a known gang member and drug dealer. He tried to escape his attackers and was fatally shot.
On Jan. 10, 2016, Asiri was called by Mohamed (Shadow) Mohamed and Mohamud (Lance) Yusuf, two men he previously met in jail and who are also accused in the killing. They wanted him to meet them at associate Brian Aikman’s apartment. Asiri, once arrested by police, provided information that led to Aikman also being charged in the plot earlier this month.
Asiri arrived and allegedly was met by his six co-accused and a girlfriend of one of the men. A rifle, two shotguns and a revolver lay on the kitchen table as the men discussed their plan. It would be one of greed and revenge.
Over the course of two hours, the men hatched a plan to lure Najdi out of his home so they could abduct him. Asiri agreed to drive the group after being asked if he wanted to “get back” at Najdi for an undisclosed transgression.
In all, the group planned to demand $40,000 in ransom from Najdi’s family — less than $6,000 each.
Yusuf, dropped off by Asiri, went to Najdi’s home and lured him to a parking lot on Claremont Drive under the ruse that they were going there to deal drugs. Yusuf drove a blue Mazda3, provided by Aikman, to the parking lot.
Asiri then allegedly drove five of the six other accused to the meeting point in a Suburban SUV.
At around 10:30 p.m., the Mazda, containing Yusuf, Najdi and Najdi’s friend Amirali Mohsen, pulled into the lot.
According to plan, Asiri drove the Suburban into the lot and boxed in the Mazda. The men filed out of the Suburban and Asiri grabbed Najdi and tried to yank him out of the car. Najdi resisted and Asiri slammed the car door on him repeatedly as the others attacked him.
Co-accused Lual (Gorilla) Lual allegedly struck Najdi in the head multiple times with the butt of a shotgun. Mohsen was also beaten.
Court heard that while Najdi was fighting off his assailants, coaccused Ali (Montana) Elenezi grabbed the signature gold chains that Najdi wore around his neck and “swung him around the parking lot.”
Najdi, finally able to break free, began running for his life.
The Crown theory is that Mohamed raised his .22-calibre Mini 14 rifle and shot Najdi twice — once in the back and once in the buttocks. Though he had been hit, Najdi kept running before collapsing at a stranger’s front door.
His attackers didn’t wait to see what came of the bullets. They fled the area in both vehicles, abducting Mohsen at knifepoint, restraining him with duct tape and warning him: “Don’t walk with snitches, don’t walk with rats, that’s what you get, that’s what happens to them.”
Najdi had been a police witness in an unrelated homicide the summer before. While en route to ransack Najdi’s house, the group phoned Najdi’s brother Hussein and played him a song about murder.
Police would later find two balaclavas and duct tape bearing the DNA of three of the accused, including Asiri.
Court heard that Asiri, armed with an axe, and alleged gunman Mohamed entered Najdi’s home, ordered their victims’ girlfriends into another room and demanded Mohsen take them to Najdi’s stash of drugs. The other accused joined the two, and the looting began.
Najdi’s girlfriend saw Elenezi wearing her boyfriend’s chains. He told her that “this is what you get for f—g with a rat,” court heard.
The group left, and in two vehicles, drove around Ottawa for nearly two hours, before ditching Mohsen downtown. Along the way, they were picked up by multiple surveillance cameras.
Members of the group planned to drive to Toronto to flee police but stopped in Kingston. Asiri eventually returned to Ottawa. Police would later seize his Suburban and began making arrests in the case in April 2016.
With credit for time served, Asiri will serve a little less than eight years in jail. He is prohibited from possessing firearms for life, must give a DNA sample and cannot contact his co-accused.
The charges against his six other accused — ranging from manslaughter to first-degree murder — have not yet been tested in court.
Don’t walk with snitches, don’t walk with rats, that’s what you get, that’s what happens to them.