Suzanne Wilton and Sasha Nagy
Canadian fugitive Patrick Steven Ryan’s ties to extreme right-wing groups in South Africa have become part of a Calgary police investigation into his role in the violent armed robbery of an armoured car last March.
Ryan, whose connections to white- supremacist groups are also part of the investigation, visited South Africa on at least two occasions, once in 1994 and again in 1997.
“We are aware of connections [Ryan] had with individuals in South Africa,” Calgary police Staff Sergeant Mike Cullen confirmed. “I don’t know of any specific connections with any organisations in South Africa at this point in time.”
Ryan claimed, in communication to other people, to have met a former high-ranking member of the apartheid- era government while travelling in South Africa in 1994. The official had ties to the Koevoet hit-squad and the South African Police.
A company registered by Ryan showed his interest in the country. In 1995 he started an import-export business under the trade name Assegai Imports.
Ryan is alleged to have been involved in “nefarious” and mercenary activities by his former employer, armoured-car service Brink’s Canada. He is charged with robbery in connection with a March 19 attack at a Calgary shopping mall.
Two men dressed in military-style clothing lay in wait of a scheduled bank deposit and ambushed the Brink’s guards with AK-47 rifles. The guards returned fire.
The gunmen fled after dispensing teargas. They escaped empty-handed. A subsequent police investigation has tied the suspects to numerous other successful robberies across the country.
Shortly after the Calgary heist, Ryan hired a lawyer to send a letter to the company, asking Brink’s to stop slandering him.
Childhood friend Sergeant Darnell Bass, an elite soldier and paratrooper with the Canadian Armed Forces, has been arrested and charged with attempted murder and armed robbery in connection with the attack, in which more than 80 rounds of automatic- weapon gunfire were exchanged.
One day after Bass was arrested on July 16, a Calgary police investigation executed several search warrants in Ottawa producing a major cache of weapons, including grenade launchers, tear-gas canisters and automatic weapons.
Guns and a computer were seized in a raid six days later in Calgary at the residence police believe belonged to Ryan. He has not been seen for the past three weeks.
Ryan’s passion for Adolf Hitler, neo- Nazi paraphernalia and other diverse “white power” literature was uncovered after police blew open the door to his basement.
Cullen confirmed that the Brink’s investigation is not limited to Canada. He would not name the agencies involved, but confirmed they are located both in Canada and abroad.
“We have been co-operating and providing information to other agencies and we have been getting co- operation with other agencies,” Cullen said.
“As to whether they are pursuing other investigations, I can’t really say.”
A former guard who said he worked with Ryan at Brink’s and spoke on condition of anonymity said Ryan bragged of his access to weapons and activities in South Africa as a mercenary. – Calgary Herald