A Burnaby RCMP report may have helped seal the fate of a Somali citizen currently under a deportation order because of his involvement in a gang allegedly responsible for numerous Lower Mainland street robberies and swarmings.
Abdirasaak Ibrahim Hassan, 26, entered Canada as a permanent resident in September 2011 at age 15, according to a Federal Court ruling last Friday.
On May 12, 2021, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada issued a deportation order against him on the grounds of “organized criminality.”
At a hearing, the Immigration Department got testimony from a retired Burnaby RCMP constable and considered a 2014 Burnaby RCMP “intelligence summary” that identified eight individuals, including Hassan, who were members of a street gang known variously as SB–47 (Somali Boyz 47), the South African Robbery Crew or the Surrey Robbery Crew, operating in the Lower Mainland.
“The group was alleged to have committed many street robberies and swarmings, targeting electronic devices and other personal property,” states the ruling.
One “highly redacted” June 2014 police report described “multiple robberies at gunpoint in June 2014 near Skytrain Stations in Burnaby,” according to the ruling.
Hassan was located after those incidents in breach of a curfew and carrying a cell phone reported stolen by one of the victims, according to the report.
Police reports also outlined a number of other times Hassan was arrested.
But Hassan applied to the Federal Court for a judicial review of the deportation decision, saying the Immigration Department had made errors in coming to its decision, including failing to prove the alleged gang had enough structure to be a criminal organization or that he had been charged with or convicted of any crimes as a member of a criminal organization.
Judge Andrew Little dismissed his application.
Little agreed with the Immigration Department’s conclusion that the “threshold of structure” in the gang had been met in the evidence.
“There was a consistent group of individuals, a consistent purpose, a pattern of criminal conduct and common or connected locations for that conduct,” Little writes
And, while Hassan may not have been convicted of crimes in relation to the gang’s activity, Little agreed the police reports “created reasonable grounds” to believe Hassan participated in criminal acts associated with it.
“The police constable had never directly observed (Hassan) participating in any criminal activity,” Little writes. “However, the police occurrence reports identified the applicant on numerous occasions participating in robberies and, importantly, in possession of goods taken from victims: ‘a victim’s credit card, another’s backpack and in another case a stolen cell phone.’ He was known to carry weapons or imitation weapons.”
Little also pointed to previous court cases that concluded criminal charges or convictions aren’t requirements for belonging to an organized crime group.
Once Hassan is assigned a removal date, he can apply to the Federal Court again for a stay of removal in a separate proceeding, according the court registry.
