A teen who was abducted in North York on Wednesday morning is being held by his captors as retribution for his stepbrother’s unpaid drug debt, Toronto police say.
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A youngster who was stole in North York on Wednesday morning is being held by his captors as requital for his stepbrother’s unpaid medication obligation, Toronto police say.
In a news gathering, Toronto police Supt. Steve Watts said 14-year-old Shammah Jolayemi’s sibling Olalekan Osikoya owes roughly $4 million worth of cocaine comparable to a medication “tear” that goes back to the previous summer.
“This is a 14-year-old honest kid,” Watts said. “He isn’t a piece of that business. He’s not a piece of that way of life.”
Watts said Jolayemi was accounted for missing by his dad at around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday not long after discovering that their child hadn’t made it to class that morning.
Jolayemi was abducted several hours before his parents realized he was missing, Watts said, adding that police received an unknown trouble call that morning.
Witnesses in the area of Jane Street and Driftwood Avenue, north of Finch Avenue, told police that on Wednesday morning they observed a teenage male screaming “help me, help me” before being forced into a black Jeep Wrangler by two males, who drove away.
Investigators said Jolayemi was standing outside 353 Driftwood Avenue shortly before 8:30 a.m. when he was forced into the Jeep.
An Amber Alert was issued for the missing teen shortly after midnight, nearly 16 hours after he was last seen.
“The Amber Alert remains in effect,” Watts said, adding that there has been no sighting of Jolayemi since his abduction. He also said there is no word on the condition of the teen.
However, Watts said they believe Jolayemi is still in the province.
Police have communicated with the suspects, Watts said, but he wouldn’t speak further on the details.
“The full resources of the Toronto police service in conjunction with the valuable assistance of the OPP has been engaged and tasked with finding Shammah and bringing him home safely,” Watts said.
“We would encourage those who took Shammah to drop him off in a safe place. Contact a lawyer and turn yourselves in.”
Meanwhile, the stepbrother is cooperating with the police, Watts said.
The Toronto District School Board confirmed on Thursday that Jolayemi’s parents weren’t actually contacted about his absence from classes at Newtonbrook Secondary School until 6:10 p.m. on the day he disappeared.
The TDSB says that parents will typically receive automated calls about student absences at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. but for some reason that did not happen in Jolayemi’s case.
TDSB spokesperson Ryan Bird said teachers are required to enter attendance information into an electronic system “promptly” after class has started.
“At this time what we do know is that the information wasn’t in our system at that 11 a.m. cut-off time and now we are looking into those finer details to exactly how that happened,” Bird said.
The board says that four school staff members have been placed on home assignment while it looks into the matter further.
“Obviously should there be any culpable behaviour, then disciplinary action can be a result,” Bird said.
“Not only do we want to know (what happened), we know that the parents deserve to know and we have tried to keep them up to date throughout the day… telling them what we know up until this point and obviously offering any support we can.”
Jolayemi is described as about five-foot-eleven to six feet, with a slim build and short dark brown hair. Jolayemi was last seen wearing a gray hoodie, gray track pants with an orange stripe, a shiny black puffy winter coat and yellow Air Jordans.
He may have been carrying a red and black Adidas back pack.
A vehicle of interest was observed in the area where the victim was last seen, police said. It is described as a black Jeep Wrangler with oversized front tires and a front push bar with round fog lights.
Police investigating burned out vehicle
On Thursday afternoon, Toronto police spokesperson Meaghan Gray said officers are aware of a burned out vehicle that was found in the area of Forks of the Credit Provincial Park in Caledon, Ont.
Watts said they believe it is the same vehicle that was used in the boy’s abduction.
Aerial footage from Chopper 24, which was captured on Thursday morning after the vehicle had been taken away, showed multiple police vehicles and officers in the area it was discovered.
Toronto police officers are working with the Ontario Provincial Police to investigate the burned vehicle.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police or Crime Stoppers.
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