Article content
Day and Night Pizza served a bit of everything.
The 24-hour shop on 118 Avenue advertised pizzas and donair, burgers and fries, barbecue chicken and steak sandwiches. It also served “Italian Loaf” with two types of meat, onions, mozzarella and tomato sauce.
Article content
But Day and Night’s best-known items were off-menu.
On Monday, Safeer Nazir pleaded guilty to pushing fentanyl from the now defunct pizzeria.
Article content
Nazir and another man were charged in 2021 after an undercover Edmonton police investigation found illegal drugs were being sold from the restaurant, sometimes hidden in pizza boxes.
At the time of the bust, police said Nazir and the co-accused owned Day and Night, and that they accepted stolen liquor and groceries in exchange for drugs.
According to an agreed statement of facts, Edmonton police were told in July 2021 that Nazir and the other man were selling drugs from the 9715 118 Ave. shop. Day and Night was by then well-known to police, having been subject to multiple gaming and liquor act complaints over the prior decade.
The restaurant was also subject to undercover investigations in 2017 and 2019 in which officers were able to buy cocaine from one of the proprietors.
Over the coming months, undercover officers made a series of trades for fentanyl.
In October 2021, an officer received .1 grams of fentanyl in exchange for “two blocks of cheese.” A few days later, another traded two bottles of alcohol for .2 grams. The same trade was repeated the next day.
The final exchange came Oct. 28, 2021, when an officer swapped .2 grams for four bottles of booze.
Article content
Officers executed search warrants on the restaurant and Nazir’s home early the next month. Nazir was arrested in Day and Night, where officers found “a larger quantity of prepackaged fentanyl” in “various pizza boxes throughout the restaurant kitchen.”
Nazir appeared in court to plead guilty to two of the charges he faced. He spoke only to confirm to Court of King’s Bench Justice John Little that he understood the consequences of entering the plea. He remains on bail.
Recommended from Editorial
The case of Nazir’s co-accused, Raja Nazir, continues to work its way through the courts. Raja Nazir was 65 at the time of the bust, while Safeer Nazir was 39.
Safeer Nazir’s case is in court next month to set a date for sentencing.
Share this article in your social network
