Cops Heard About Mayor's Crack Video on Wiretap Weeks Before Story Hit
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's cable is out, poor guy, which is why he hadn't heard that "ground zero" for his crack cocaine scandal was the site of a huge police raid this morning. He probably also missed that Toronto cops were aware of his crack video weeks before Gawker broke the story.
Early this morning, scores of arrest warrants were served across the greater Toronto area as part of an anti-gun police operation called "Project Traveller." Among the houses visited: The Dixon Road apartments where the video of Rob Ford smoking crack was said to be held, and the home of a man named Muhammad Khattak, who was photographed standing with Ford in front of a crackhouse.
But don't ask Rob Ford! "My cable is out," he told reporters this morning. "I know as much as you guys know." So, just to fill you in, mayor: Police removed what appeared to be a Toshiba laptop from Khattak's house, in addition to a number of cell phones. CBC's John Lancaster says that "among [the] items police [were] searching for in raids this morning [were] 'video files.'"
And now CTV reports that "[p]olice were aware of alleged video linked to Rob Ford several weeks before the story first surfaced":
As part of the investigation leading to the raids on Thursday in the GTA, officers obtained telephone wire-tap evidence.
A highly-placed source confirms to CTV News that on those wiretaps, persons of interest discussed the video in detail, and referred to the mayor's alleged presence in the video.
Good luck getting your cable fixed, Rob.