A murder suspect on the run for more than a year and wanted on a Canada-wide warrant was finally caught outside the country and brought back to face justice.
Joseph Chlala, 23, was arrested in New York state earlier this week, the Edmonton Police Service announced on Friday.
Chlala was wanted in connection with a homicide that took place last summer in a newer suburb on the southern edge of the city.
On Monday, June 12, 2023, around 6:30 p.m., police responded to reports of an injured man in an alley near Allard Link SW and Arthurs Crescent SW.
Officers arrived to find Osama Ali, 21, dead in the alley in the Allard neighbourhood. An autopsy two days later found he died of gunshot wounds and the case was ruled a homicide.
Three months later, police obtained a Canada-wide warrant for Chlala, who was wanted for second-degree murder for the death of Ali.
Homicide investigators believed Chlala and Ali knew each other, saying at the time both men were on police radar before the shooting. Police characterized the death to be “within a context of organized crime.”
Chlala was already on the run at the time of the homicide.
A warrant had been issued for him three months earlier in Calgary, where he removed his tracking bracelet and didn’t show up to court for sentencing in a homicide case after pleading guilty to manslaughter in January 2023.
Last week, Chlala resurfaced south of the border.
Edmonton police said it was notified on Monday, Aug. 5, that Chlala had been arrested by the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Police in Akwesasne, NY.
The Ontario Provincial Police took Chlala into custody after he was deported from the United States.
“The OPP is a partner agency on the Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST). Maintaining border integrity is only one aspect of the BEST mandate,” said OPP Det. Insp. Rob Johnston. “The cross-border cooperation, coordinated efforts and partnerships that exist between law enforcement in Canada and the United States play an integral role in occurrences such as this.”
Chlala was one of the suspects wanted as part of the Bolo Program, which stands for “Be On The Lookout.”
The Bolo Program amplifies police requests for public assistance on most wanted cases, leveraging social media and technology to encourage citizens to be on the lookout for Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
Suspects are displayed on billboards, social media campaigns and flyers distributed across Canada. A reward of up to $50,000 was being offered for any information leading to the arrest of Chlala.
“Today, our communities are safer thanks to great police work and the entire country being on the lookout for Joseph Chlala. Together, we can make our communities safer,” said Maxime Langlois, executive director of the Bolo Program.
The Edmonton Police Service partnered with the Bolo Program in an effort to locate Canada’s most wanted suspects, including Chlala.
“We are grateful for the awareness that the Bolo Program created,” said Det. Bryan Macaulay from the EPS homicide section.
“This is also another great example of law enforcement agencies working together to find a suspect wanted for murder, regardless of our jurisdictional borders.”
The Bolo Program is an initiative from the Stephan Crétier Foundation, a charity organization established in 2006 by the CEO of GardaWorld Security Corporation.