This is a story mostly about Somali drug gangs in Canada (focusing on Edmonton where there have been many Somalis murdered in recent years), but there is some interesting information about the US as well, Did you know that there is a Lewiston, Ohio and Somalis are moving there?
From the Vancouver Sun:
EDMONTON – Somali drug gangs appear to be highly mobile and loosely organized without the hierarchy of traditional criminal gangs, says Staff Sgt. Jim Peebles of Edmonton city police.
These gang members work a circuit — Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary to Fort McMurray and Ottawa, Peebles said in a recent interview, moving cocaine and guns around the country.
“The group is in Edmonton one day, then they turn up in Ft. McMurray and next week we see them in Toronto or Ottawa,” he said.
Guns are coming from the US and the gangs are highly mobile.
Police here believe gang guns are imported from Minneapolis and Columbus, Ohio.
Unlike most criminal organizations, Somali gangs also don’t have strict territories they protect. The activity is “all commodity based,” he said. The fight is over selling more drugs or conflicts between new operators and established groups. Also, unlike street gangs that identify publicly with gang colours and membership rules, Somali gangs keep a low profile. Membership is not about establishing group identity but rather about getting fast cash, he said. “This is all driven by money.”
From the Minneapolis police, watch out Lewiston, Ohio!
As for guns, “it’s possible” guns move across the border to Canada from Minneapolis. Three guns stores were recently robbed by Somalis and only a few of the guns have turned up.
The Somali community is mobile, moving to where there are jobs, good public assistance, housing and an openness to immigrants, she (Officer Jeanine Brudunell, the Minneapolis police department’s liaison officer for East Africa communities) said. A group is now moving to the smaller community of Lewiston, Ohio, for instance, she said.
Interesting! We all know that Lewiston, Maine was (still is!) a Somali magnet and now it is Lewiston, Ohio! Doesn’t it make you wonder if a bunch of Somalis were saying go to Lewiston and they didn’t know there was more than one!
For new readers:
The US has admitted well over 100,000 Somali refugees to the US since the early 1990′s (they were trickling in in the 1980′s). To check out the numbers visit this post, one of our most widely read posts over the last few years. In FY2010 which ended September 30th the US State Department resettled 4,884 Somalis (here) to towns near you. The “teen” would-be bomber in Oregon was one of the refugees.
Also, after being closed for nearly two years, the US State Department is on the verge (has been on the verge for months and months!) of resuming the fraud-ridden family reunification program that admitted as many as 36,000 Somalis fraudulently to the US between 2003 and 2008. See the latest on new regulations, here.
Now, also, Somalis are coming illegally across our borders and ironically asking for asylum because of the radical Islamic Jihadists (including Americans!) in Africa.