Police are concerned about possible gang violence after the return to B.C. of two well-connected brothers.
Sgt. Lindsey Houghton said both Siavash and Sahand Askari are believed to have arrived in the Lower Mainland in recent weeks.
Sahand, 30, was wounded in a 2007 shootout in Richmond’s Dover Park, after which police said he was suspected of being an active participant in the gunplay. Another man wounded that day, Vahid Mahanian, was found murdered in 2011.
Already, Houghton’s Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit has obtained a warrant for the arrest of Siavash, 31, for allegedly breaching a court order, since his travel is restricted to Ontario and Quebec.
“He’s believed to be out here so he’s breaching,” the order, Houghton said.
“Those guys have a long history here, involved in a lot of violence on both sides of things. So the concern is that if they’re here, they may be a target as they have in the past or they may be here to do something, which is of course a concern to everybody.”
— Kim Bolan
Sahand was also shot at in Coquitlam in December 2010, days before AK-47-toting gunmen sprayed a Vancouver restaurant where friends of the Askaris had gathered. Ten people were injured. No one was charged in either shooting.
When the Askaris last arrived in Metro Vancouver, in October 2010, Siavash was arrested at Vancouver airport by gang cops. As he was being led through the terminal, he kicked a camera out of the hands of a Vancouver Sun photographer.
The incident led to a mischief charge and conviction.
Siavash has convictions dating back to 2002 for offences from assault causing bodily harm and resisting arrest to driving while prohibited and violating court-ordered conditions.
The most serious charge he faced - attempted murder in connection with a Richmond nightclub shooting in September 2006 - was later thrown out.
The Askaris left Canada for their native Iran in early 2008, returning on Oct. 26, 2010.
Both are believed to have information about a number of high-profile shootings in Metro Vancouver, including the murder of Ricardo Scarpino outside Gotham Steakhouse in January 2008.
The brothers are associated with Rabih Alkhalil, a former Vancouver man involved in the Wolf Pack gang alliance who’s fighting extradition to Canada from Greece.
Alkhalil is charged in the January 2012 murder in downtown Vancouver of Sandip Duhre. He’s also facing a murder count in Toronto and cocaine importation charges in both Ontario and Quebec.
Police sources confirmed that another pair of gang-linked brothers who have been living outside of Canada are now back in B.C.
Mohammed and Milad Rahimi, of North Vancouver, had vanished earlier this year and were even reported to have been killed in Thailand last April.
But sources said the reports of their demise were fake and that the Rahimis are now back in the province.
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