Posted on 02/14/2003 8:13:12 AM PST by Sweet_Sunflower29
Two men charged with raiding an armoured car and holding several hostages at gunpoint on Wednesday had each been deported to Jamaica three times and have prior criminal records for armed robbery, Toronto police said yesterday.
"I think it's disgusting," Detective Sergeant Wilf Townley of the holdup squad told reporters. "I think that there's a sieve that allows these people to run in and out of this country."
Dave Wilson, 32, and Esron Laing, 40, face 23 charges in connection with the armed robbery of an armoured vehicle followed by a hostage-taking at a nearby adult video store.
"Both these parties are known to us and have convictions for robbery before," Det. Sgt. Townley said. He added the police database lists both men as prohibited from carrying firearms or explosives.
Messrs. Wilson and Laing were most recently deported in 2001, Det. Sgt. Townley said. When they were arrested this week, police say each had a counterfeit driver's licence and social insurance card.
Police could not say how Mr. Wilson and Mr. Laing were able to enter Canada.
Customs spokeswoman Colette Gentes-Hawn said, "Certainly we have the capacity to spot someone at the border who has been ordered deported."
However, if someone uses a false name or documents, that would not show up on Customs' computers, she said.
Identity theft has been one of the main focuses for Denis Coderre, the Immigration Minister, championing the issue of identity cards using biometric technology.
Last month, Hillary Rodham Clinton, a Democratic Senator from New York, also criticized Canada for border deficiencies.
At about 7 p.m. on Wednesday, two armed guards carrying a "fairly substantial amount of money" were at a Scotiabank branch in the city's northwest when they were ambushed by two gun-toting men, police said yesterday.
One carried a 9-millimetre handgun, the other brandished a .223-calibre assault rifle. Both weapons had a round in the chamber and were ready to fire, Det. Sgt. Townley said.
The assault rifle was loaded with armour-piercing ammunition.
"These bullets will pierce police vests ... without a problem," Det. Sgt. Townley said. "If you have these in your gun, you are prepared to use them, and this concerns us immensely."
The robbers took the guards' guns and the money and fled to the parking lot of a nearby plaza where their getaway car was waiting. However, it wouldn't start.
They then entered a Mega Adult Video Store through the back entrance and took as many as three employees hostage, put on the employees' work clothes and told them to act as though nothing was wrong.
One clerk, however, managed to call police, who quickly surrounded the store.
After negotiations, the hostages were released unharmed and the bandits turned themselves in.
Messrs. Wilson and Laing were arrested in connection with the robbery and face charges that include forcible confinement, armed robbery and numerous firearms charges.
Police say the assault rifle was stolen in a home invasion in the Niagara region in 1998.
All of the money, guns, bullet-proof vests and ski masks were recovered from the video store.
Det. Sgt. Townley said Mr. Wilson served a sentence for a 1993 armed robbery of a restaurant and Mr. Laing received a 10-year sentence for robbing a bank in 1992 at gunpoint. However, Mr. Laing was released only four years into the sentence.
Det. Sgt. Townley said screening procedures at entry points into Canada must be tightened because "there's thousands of people that have been deported from this country that are still back in here and wandering the streets in Toronto alone."
Kettle, meet Pot...
Well, that's good. So only criminals can get into the country illegally. Very reassuring.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.