CBC News learned that the Ottawa Police are investigating an arson fire at a single-story home in Nepean due to its connections to a notorious international criminal Palestinian family.

The arson occurred at 95 Roseland Avenue around 3:45 AM on October 8.

Firefighters arrived to find two individuals in the front yard who had escaped the fire.

Paramedics treated a man and a woman for burns and smoke inhalation.

Just a few houses down on Roseland Avenue, there is another home that was previously owned by Hicham "Terry" Khalil, one of the alleged cocaine dealers, and one of five brothers from the same crime family.

There are suspicions that he sold this property, at least on paper, in 2021.

However, even after the sale, in February 2022, one of Khalil's long-time gang associates was found hiding in the home and was arrested by the RCMP.

The house located at 95 Roseland Avenue is owned by a numbered company registered in the name of Nevin Khalil, which was confirmed by police sources with extensive knowledge of the Khalil crime network as being the sister of the Khalil brothers.

The registered address of that company is a detached home in North Kanata registered in the name of their mother and father.

Who are the Khalils?

The Khalil crime family has connections with members of criminal gangs located in British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec.

They are involved in the criminal underworld of money, influence, and violence.

Notably, two of the five brothers were killed in gang disputes in British Columbia in the early 2000s.

A third was killed in Mexico in 2018, and the youngest escaped from federal prison while awaiting trial on murder charges and is still at large with no information available on his whereabouts.

According to an immigration decision made by the eldest brother Nabil Khalil in 2011, the Khalil family came to Canada in 1990, landing at Montreal International Airport and applying for refugee protection.

It is worth mentioning that the head of the family, Hussein Khalil, fled Palestine during the Arab-Israeli conflict of 1948, first traveling to Lebanon and then to Saudi Arabia before coming to Canada during the Gulf War with his wife Sumaya Azzam and their children.

In 2004, after the deaths of two brothers, the family moved to Ottawa.

In 2014, police seized the Roseland Avenue home registered in Terry Khalil's name during a construction operation called Project Chaos.

Police seized 24.5 kilograms of cocaine valued at approximately $12.5 million, four firearms, and a home valued at $1.2 million.

Eventually, the charges against Terry Khalil were dropped after the case took too long to reach court.

A notorious gang member was found hiding in the house the following year, where the RCMP arrested Hells Angel Damion Ryan, who is one of the Khalil family's associates and was found hiding in the former Khalil home.

The police described Ryan as "possibly one of the most productive organized crime members in our country."

The RCMP also stated that the arrest of the international Mexican drug trafficking gang led to its dismantlement.

Court records also believe that Ryan was found in the former Khalil home where weapons were stored inside the kitchen, family room, laundry room, and office.

Months later, Rabea Khalil escaped from a British Columbia prison while awaiting murder charges.

Rabea Khalil is still at large and is wanted by the police, being at the top of Canada's most wanted list, and is believed to be abroad.

Information suggests that members of the Khalil family continue to own several homes in Ottawa, either directly or through related individuals, possibly related to money laundering.

No comment has been issued by the Ottawa Police regarding this matter, but they stated that they continue to investigate.