Undercover police investigating the murder of a 13-year-old girl in British Columbia disguised themselves as tea marketers to secretly collect the DNA of about 150 Kurdish community members, court recordings reveal.
Homicide officers said the DNA was obtained at a 2018 Kurdish New Year celebration in Burnaby, where police handed out free tea samples in numbered cups that were later swabbed for DNA in a sting that identified a brother of the suspect.
That led to the arrest of Ibrahim Ali, who was convicted in December of first-degree murder of the girl whose name is protected by a publication ban.
Ali is due in court Monday to fix a date for sentencing.
His trial heard DNA on a cigarette butt discarded by Ali matched semen in the girl香蕉视频直播檚 body, which was found in Burnaby香蕉视频直播檚 Central Park in July 2017.
But the jury was never told why B.C.香蕉视频直播檚 Integrated Homicide Investigation Team was monitoring Ali,and an application by his lawyers for full information about the operation has been sealed by the court.
However, The Canadian Press listened to months of court recordings of pretrial hearings that reveal details of the secret operation and its random sweep.
Meghan McDermott, the policy director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said she was 香蕉视频直播渟tunned香蕉视频直播� to hear about the operation, calling it 香蕉视频直播渦nacceptable and reprehensible香蕉视频直播� if police failed to obtain a warrant for it.
香蕉视频直播淲e need judicial permission to do this. You either need the warrant to do it surreptitiously, or you need informed consent,香蕉视频直播� she said in an interview.
香蕉视频直播淚t香蕉视频直播檚 really disappointing and disturbing, that they came up with a creative way, that they香蕉视频直播檙e probably very proud of, to violate the rights of so many people.香蕉视频直播�
It香蕉视频直播檚 not clear if a warrant was sought or obtained, and police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Dan McLaughlin of the BC Prosecution Service said in an email Friday that the service 香蕉视频直播渨ill not be issuing any statements or commenting on any aspects of the investigation or prosecution at this time.香蕉视频直播�
Ali香蕉视频直播檚 lawyer Ben Lynskey said in one of the pretrial hearings that the sting involved the 香蕉视频直播渋ndiscriminate香蕉视频直播� investigation of people on the basis of 香蕉视频直播渞acial background.香蕉视频直播�
He said there were 香蕉视频直播渕assive implications for how the police conduct investigations and for the Charter-protected interest of Canadians.香蕉视频直播�
Police testified the sting was launched after DNA from the body was determined to have markers consistent with the Kurdish ethnic minority. Homicide investigators zeroed in on the community of several thousand in the Lower Mainland, whose members include refugees from the Syrian war.
Police had earlier conducted a voluntary DNA sweep of male Kurds, as well as collecting castoff DNA samples, the court heard.
香蕉视频直播淭his is an investigative step that was taken by the police, which allowed the police to direct some greater attention and focus, in a better way, the nature of their investigation,香蕉视频直播� Crown lawyer Daniel Porte told a pretrial hearing in November 2019.
But when that didn香蕉视频直播檛 yield a breakthrough, police devised a new plan to obtain DNA without permission. They would secretly collect DNA at a Kurdish New Year celebration, known as Newroz, at Burnaby香蕉视频直播檚 Barnet Marine Park on March 25, 2018, the recordings revealed.
An RCMP officerexplained the operation to the B.C. Supreme Court in November 2022 calling it an 香蕉视频直播渋ncentive-based scenario.香蕉视频直播�
香蕉视频直播淭he specific scenario was a taste test of tea,香蕉视频直播� the officer told the court.
He said officers dressed as market researchers for a tea company and roamed around the Newroz celebration, offering free samples. He said the participants were also given Tim Hortons gift cards.
香蕉视频直播淚 believe it was a $5 gift card, but I can香蕉视频直播檛 be certain on the amount,香蕉视频直播� the officer said.
香蕉视频直播淭he participants (who) elected to participate in this event, (and) it was entirely voluntary, could elect to provide personal information which would further give them the possibility of being entered into some form of contest or sweepstakes. This, again, was voluntary.香蕉视频直播�
But participants were never told the tea company was fake and the entire process was designed solely to allow police to obtain their DNA and identities.
The officer said the cups were 香蕉视频直播渋ndividually and uniquely numbered香蕉视频直播� so police could later match DNA on the cups with names on the contest forms.
Undercover officers would offer to take back the used disposable cup, pretending to throw them away. Instead, the cups were wrapped in a plastic glove to protect against cross-contamination, placed in a garbage bag, then collated in a trailer parked some distance away.
In December 2022, Crown lawyer Porte told the court that 150 cups were collected at the celebration. Three were duplicates, and of the 147 unique DNA samples, 91 were male and 56 female.
He said one of the samples obtained at the Newroz celebration came from a man named Shamdan Ali, and that RCMP lab testing showed he shared many genetic characteristics with the DNA of 香蕉视频直播淢ale 1,香蕉视频直播� whose semen was found in the body.
He said Shamdan Ali香蕉视频直播檚 DNA was sent to Parabon NanoLabs in the United States which had more exacting science than available in Canada. The company determined it likely belonged to a sibling of Male 1 with 香蕉视频直播渃onfidence of 99.32 per cent.香蕉视频直播�
Police then identified Syrian refugee Ibrahim Ali as the brother of Shamdan Ali and began surveillance that later resulted in the seizure of the cigarette butt on Aug. 24, 2018.
The DNA matched Male 1 and Ibrahim Ali was arrested about a week later.
Prosecutors told his subsequent trial that Ali had sexually assaulted and strangled the girl, and he was convicted on Dec. 8. He faces a mandatory life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.
McDermott, with the BC Civil Liberties Association, said the sting operation was 香蕉视频直播渞eally concerning,香蕉视频直播� set a 香蕉视频直播渟cary precedent香蕉视频直播� and will likely impact trust between the Kurdish community and Canadian authorities.
It would be 香蕉视频直播渄isingenuous to call this a voluntary collection of cast-off DNA,香蕉视频直播� she said of the Newroz operation.
香蕉视频直播淭here can be creative solutions to finding a needle in a haystack or looking for people who have done criminally abhorrent things,香蕉视频直播� she said. 香蕉视频直播淥ur system can accommodate these brilliant, creative solutions if they香蕉视频直播檙e properly balancing all of the rights involved.香蕉视频直播�
Ali香蕉视频直播檚 lawyers filed a notice of appeal on Dec. 11, which claimed the court 香蕉视频直播渆rred in its consideration of the defence abuse-of-process application in respect to the police collection of, and investigation into, the appellant香蕉视频直播檚 DNA.香蕉视频直播�
During pretrial hearings, Ali香蕉视频直播檚 lawyer criticized the sting operation and the targeting of the Kurdish community.
香蕉视频直播淭he only way to advance the lead without other investigational information is to do what the police did in this case, which is to indiscriminately investigate every person from the same racial background,香蕉视频直播� Lynskey said during a disclosure application in January 2022.
香蕉视频直播淭he defence will be challenging whether this technology can reliably do what it purports to do and whether it should be used,香蕉视频直播� he said.
香蕉视频直播淲e will also be challenging the effect of the use of this technology on the police investigation and whether it led to them exploiting the vulnerability of the Kurdish population to advance the investigation.香蕉视频直播�
Justice Lance Bernard ruled against the abuse-of-process application in December 2022.
Ali香蕉视频直播檚 defence lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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