MANDEL: Man convicted in brazen kidnapping of teen to settle brother's drug debt

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As he listened from his hospital bed, Samir Abdelgadir appeared shocked when the judge announced her verdict: Guilty of the brazen daylight kidnapping of a 14-year-old boy whose half-brother had ripped off 90 kilos of cocaine from some very angry drug dealers.

“Based on the totality of the evidence, guilt is the only reasonable conclusion,” Superior Court Justice Sandra Nishikawa said.

Of the five men originally charged in the audacious abduction, Abdelgadir is the only one to be convicted: Alleged drug trafficker Scott McManus had his charges stayed and is now on the run from other charges; Hamed Shahnawaz and Solaiman Nassimi pleaded guilty instead to torching the Jeep Wrangler used in the kidnapping, while fourth suspect Liban Hussein had his kidnapping charges dropped following a preliminary hearing and was later murdered.

On the morning of March 4, 2020, the Grade 9 student — the Toronto Sun has agreed not to publish his name — was grabbed by two men outside his Driftwood Ave. home as he was on his way to school and shoved into the stolen Jeep.

Following in tandem to and from the kidnapping were a Mercedes GLE and a Chevy Tahoe. “I am satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Abdelgadir was driving the Tahoe when it went to …. Driftwood Ave. on the morning of March 4, 2020, that he knew (the boy) was going to be kidnapped and that he had been abducted, and that he carried out his role of standing by and being ready to assist if needed.”

The victim’s half-brother, Olalekan Osikoya, testified he was paid $10,000 a month to work as a drug courier for McManus and Giovanni Raimondi and delivered kilos several times a month to Abdelgadir. But when his pay became erratic, he stole a shipment in June 2019, offloaded most to another dealer, pocketed $500,000 for 15 kilos, and fled the country.

Nine months later, when he got a call rather than a usual text from his half-brother’s phone, Osikoya testified it wasn’t the teen but the “distinctive” voice of Abdelgadir, who told him to return the cocaine — or else.

“Mr. Oskikoya’s admitted theft of 90 kilograms of cocaine created a strong motive for the kidnapping on the part of his employers, Mr. Raimondi and Mr. McManus, who were both involved in drug trafficking at a multi-kilogram level,” Nishikawa said.

“Mr. Abdelgadir had a relationship with both Mr. Raimondi and Mr. McManus.”

Surveillance cameras captured Abdelgadir at Raimondi’s Palace Pier condo multiple times before the kidnapping and he was recorded driving both the Mercedes and the Tahoe on footage from the gatehouse, she said.  The judge also found surveillance during an unrelated OPP investigation captured the same Tahoe parked in his driveway on the day before the kidnapping and being driven away by him an hour before the abduction.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for May.

mmandel@postmedia.com