A sophisticated and extensive network of “hired criminals" has been terrorizing the Jewish community in Toronto in recent months, as revealed last weekend by the Canadian police.
According to the suspicion, international terrorist elements recruited Canadian youths via encrypted messaging apps and sent them to carry out shooting attacks against synagogues, religious institutions, and the US consulate in the city-all in exchange for generous financial payment.
At a press conference held by Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiu, the method of operation was revealed: the young, hired operatives were required to document and film the scenes of the attacks in real time or immediately afterward.
The videos and photos were sent to their handlers as proof of task completion, serving both as a condition for receiving payment and for propaganda purposes.
“The clear goal of those behind this network is to instill fear and terror in the city’s Jewish community," Police Chief Demkiu said.
While local police have so far refrained from publicly and directly accusing Iran, the Associated Press (AP) and the British Guardian report that the investigation, which has become international, is being conducted in close cooperation with additional law enforcement agencies, including the FBI.
The case took a tragic turn last week during a complex police raid on one of the network’s safe houses. During a shootout at the scene, officer Mark Pinizotto (43), a veteran of the Toronto police force, was killed.
Following the raid, indictments were filed against several suspects, but police stress that the operation is far from over: security forces are now conducting an extensive manhunt for Z. Jabi, a 19-year-old woman described as “heavily armed and extremely dangerous," who is directly wanted for involvement in the shooting at the U.S. diplomatic mission.
The shooting at the US consulate became the turning point that connected the Canadian investigation to a broader terrorism case handled by the U.S. Department of Justice.
American prosecution documents reveal that behind the hired network stands Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi-a Iraqi citizen and senior commander in the terrorist organization Kata’ib Hezbollah, which is closely aligned with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
According to the US indictment, al-Saadi operated a well-funded international system aimed at inflicting serious physical harm on Jewish, Israeli, and American targets worldwide. The FBI attributes to him not only the two shooting attacks in Canada (on the consulate and the synagogue), but also a series of additional attacks and arson incidents against Jewish targets in Europe.
Al-Saadi was recently arrested in Turkey in a coordinated operation and extradited to the US. In a heated court hearing in Manhattan, the terror network leader denied the serious charges against him and shouted at the judges that this was a “state of war." The prosecution, meanwhile, presents an organized network that exploits local criminal actors to carry out “dirty work" for Tehran.
The Jewish community in Toronto is deeply concerned following the revelations. Community leaders, who have been warning for months about a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents, shootings, and arson attacks, now understand that these are not isolated or spontaneous events, but part of a coordinated global terror pattern. The investigation continues in an effort to reach all the youths recruited into the network.