First there was the Lukfook jewelry store robber who used a bomb scare at Unionville GO Station, so that men in construction garb could rob thousands in high-end jewelry while police were busy.
That plot was foiled and some of the suspects were eventually jailed.
They might be highly organized and brazen, but there’s evidence they’re becoming more prevalent in York Region and GTA.
One morning, about five months after Lukfook, police were called to a suspicious shooting in Markham.
Twenty minutes later, robbers drove a truck through the front of a high-end watch store in Markham.
The scheme worked and the suspects got away with half a million dollars worth of goods.
So public was the incident that it caught plenty of attention by the media and the police.
Even more so when a second one occurred a month later.
It didn’t take long for investigators to seek and gain wiretap authorization from the courts.
Then came a slew of charges for many of those allegedly responsible as part of Project Kraken, a months-long Toronto police investigation into street gangs and tow trucks.
Now two of the responsible men have been found guilty and sentenced as part of the caper.
Omer Gharibzada, a former tow truck driver, known on the street as “Spikez,” was found guilty of two high-end jewelry robberies and staging an accident with another person where they claimed $18,984 to the insurance firm, landing him a sentence of seven years.
The first robbery came on April 8, 2019 following a “distraction shooting” at the Cash 4 You shop at 5703 Hwy. 7 at 10:02 am
Then, at 10:22 am, about five kilometers away, at La Difference (the Rolex store), robbers drove a stolen tow-truck through the front window of the store.
Four men, one armed with a long gun and another with a handgun, ran in quickly after stealing $510,000 worth of goods.
A month later, on May 8, the Roop Mahal jewelry store in Brampton was robbed in a similar fashion. A stolen tow truck was reversed through the front of a building followed by four masked suspects, one armed, stealing merchandise to the tune of $276,000.
Both robberies were done in precisely less than two minutes, according to court documents.
Gharibzada was caught by police on wiretaps communicating with fellow robber Kennedy Richards-Coleman to make sure he had a phone, SIM card, headset and a bag for the robbery, according to court document.
He was also found to be communicating with the other robbers after the incident, making sure everyone had escaped.
“He communicated with Richards-Coleman … assuring (him) that the person with the bag would not sell anything unless Gharibzada agreed,” court documents show.
Both men were charged as part of Project Kraken, during which Toronto police said the Chester Le gang was targeted.
Richards-Coleman received six and a half years.
Four others remain charged but have pleaded not guilty.