4 men charged after 11-month kidnapping investigation: Calgary police

Four men have been charged after an 11-month kidnapping investigation that spanned across multiple municipalities, Calgary police said.

According to a Calgary Police Service news release on Tuesday morning, officers began the investigation after they received a call on July 4 last year from a man reporting his family member had been abducted from an unknown location. The man also said his own residence, located in the 500 block of Fourth Avenue Northeast, had been broken into by three unknown offenders who physically assaulted him with a weapon and robbed him before fleeing the area.

CPS said the suspects contacted the man over the phone and demanded a ransom for the return of his family member. Officers were immediately deployed to attempt to safely locate and rescue the victim, the release said.

Police said they believed the incident was drug-related and several people were responsible for the kidnapping and were holding the victim hostage at an unknown location. The suspects provided video updates to the family and asked for a ransom in exchange for the victim’s safe return.

At around 5:10 p.m. on July 5, 2023, the victim was released by the abductors and located by police downtown. Police then arrested one man in relation to this incident.

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After an 11-month investigation into the kidnapping, police said they identified three additional suspects after 44 judicial authorizations, several search warrants and production orders, and the seizure of 29 electronic devices.

On Wednesday, May 8, 2024, officers from the Ontario Provincial Police and the Toronto Police Service re-arrested Salah Aden, 24, who was initially arrested and charged last July. Police said Aden was released on bail and failed to appear for his trial in November 2023.

In July 2023, Aden was charged with:

• robbery
• kidnapping
• two counts of failure to comply with a release order
• possession of an unlicensed weapon
• possession of a restricted firearm
• assault with a weapon
• failure to attend court

Aden is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday, July 16.

CPS said around a month later, on June 5, its officers arrested Mustafa Saeed, 23, at his residence on the 3500 block of Eighth Avenue Southwest. He was charged with:

• robbery
• kidnapping
• extortion
• two counts of assault with a weapon
• unauthorized possession of a firearm
• pointing a firearm
• three counts of breach of a release order

Saeed is scheduled to appear in court on Monday, July 15.

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Five days after that, CPS and Fort McMurray RCMP officers arrested Brandon Power, 22, and executed search warrants for both a residence and a vehicle located in Fort McMurray. Police said both the residence and vehicle are related to Power and two handguns, ammunition and a small amount of drugs were seized.

Power was charged with:

• robbery
• kidnapping
• extortion
• five counts of unauthorized possession of a firearm
• assault with a weapon
• breach of undertaking
• unsafe storage of a firearm
• possession of a restricted firearm
• possession of proceeds of crime

Power is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday, July 24.

TPS officers also arrested Mohit Sandhu, 22, on Tuesday, June 8, 2024 in relation to the investigation. CPS  said a search warrant was executed at a residence in the 300 block of Front Street in Toronto and Sandhu was taken into custody and charged with instructing an indictable offence, robbery and extortion.

Sandhu was scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday, July 9.

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