A 15-year-old boy is accused of running a child sex trafficking operation in and around Toronto involving girls as young as 11 years old.
Three alleged customers of the young pimp have also been arrested by Peel Regional Police. They face sex charges following an investigation into girls aged 11 to 14 allegedly being trafficked and sexually exploited.
The young age of both the victims and the alleged pimp was a shock even for Det.-Sgt. Bob Hackenbrook, officer in charge of Peel police’s Vice and Human Trafficking Unit.
“It’s very surprising when you have an adolescent performing this,” Hackenbrook said in an interview. “Whether it is an adult or a child, it’s appalling.”
Police alleged the suspects used coercion, manipulation, and threats of physical violence to maintain control and influence over the victims, while financially benefiting from their exploitation.
Hackenbrook said police in Peel region, immediately west of Toronto, have found 32 victims under the age of 15 who have been victimized through sex trafficking since 2022.
“Human trafficking is such a psychologically and physically violent offense. I think it’s one of the most harmful offenses that’s being perpetrated because of the trauma that survivors endure, sometimes for months or years.”
Despite a flood of headlines about underage sex trafficking among elites and on a global stage from the Jeffrey Epstein case and the recent release of the Epstein files, interest in child sexual abuse is quite real in Canadian communities, he said.
“There is a demand,” Hackenbrook said. “There is an interest in the community for people wanting to have sex with children. We are doing proactive initiatives to prevent that.”
Last year in an unrelated undercover operation called Project Juno, police posted an advertisement purporting to offer sex with an underage teen. Investigators were flooded by eager calls, with an average of 100 calls each day for 11 days.
Peel police made 35 arrests on charges of communication for the purpose of having sex with a person under 18 by the time they shut down that operation.
“The demographics were astounding,” Hackenbrook said. Men came from several Ontario cities and towns. There were businessmen, students, construction workers, retirees, and a college teacher.
“It was very alarming. And a lot of them were married, so their families got a rude awakening when they went to bail court the next day.”
In the current case, a 15-year-old male young offender, who cannot be identified by law, is charged with two counts of trafficking in persons under the age 18; three counts of procuring a person under the age of 18; two counts of receiving a benefit from human trafficking; two counts of material benefit from sexual services by a person under the age of 18; and three counts of exercise control, direction, or influence.
Three other men were also charged.
Mohamad Omar Al-Saleh, 21, from Toronto; Mustafa Abdo, 22, from Toronto; and Yousif Al-Gburi, 20, from Mississauga, are each charged with sexual assault of a female under the age of 16, sexual interference, and obtaining sexual services of a person under the age of 18 for consideration.
The minor is alleged to have recruited or induced young girls into the sex trade and profited from it, and the adult males are alleged to have been customers who had indecent contact with them.
Peel police released photos of the three adults but because of prohibitions under the Youth Criminal Justice Act against identifying a minor charged with a crime, neither a name nor a photograph of the 15-year-old was released.
The case unfolded after a victim sought help two years ago. The arrests happened in stages, the most recent this month.
Investigators believe there are additional victims and ask anyone with information to contact police.
“It takes a lot of guts for victims to come forward. We want them to come forward. They don’t necessarily have to come forward to police, but talking to social services and getting themselves out of the place they’ve found themselves.”
Hackenbrook said the recruitment of child sex trafficking victims often starts through social media.
“Traffickers are using social media, like Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, to communicate with young people to engage them and then offer opportunities to meet. And once they meet, they groom them.
“They provide them with gifts, they shower them with compliments, make them feel good about themselves and show them the good life.
“Then things change. The trafficker might say ‘you owe me, and you have to do this to pay it back’, or they might say, ‘hey, can you do me this favour because I’ve been so good to you?’ And the favour might be to have sex with an older person for money.
“It is very much a psychological offense.
“They don’t understand what they are getting themselves into. They think they’re getting into a relationship with someone who loves them, but unfortunately it is not true.”
The victims are often moved frequently to other cities, sometimes other provinces, and kept from their friends and family.
On Wednesday, Peel police are hosting a provincial human trafficking symposium.
The summit is expected to bring together survivors, victim services providers, police, justice and social services officials, and politicians from across Ontario to explore experiences and strengthen coordinated efforts to disrupt human trafficking.
Police urge anyone seeking help to contact a national, tollfree, around-the-clock Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-833-900-1010.
• Email: ahumphreys@postmedia.com | Twitter: AD_Humphreys
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