Information used to obtain a search warrant executed as part of a Toronto gang sweep that may have ties to Mayor Rob Ford will be kept secret until after Aug. 27, a judge ruled Tuesday.

The Star is seeking to have documents unsealed that relate to a search warrant executed as part of the year-long Project Traveller, arguing that information that may relate to Ford is in the public interest.

Ontario Court Justice Philip Downes ruled the information used to get that search warrant will first be made available solely to the media’s lawyers by Aug. 27.

That version will have some portions censored by the Crown, which must also provide reasons for keeping those sections secret.

The matter will then return to court before Sept. 12, where lawyers can argue which sections should not remain redacted before the document is released to the public.

Since the Star filed its application, other media outlets, including the Globe and Mail, CTV and CBC, jointly filed a similar application to have the warrant made public.

The Star’s lawyer, Ryder Gilliland, said people have a right to know what information was provided to a judge when they authorized police to knock down the doors of private citizens — and how it relates to the mayor.

“The public have a right to scrutinize these types of decisions. This scrutiny is a fundamental safeguard of the justice system,” Gilliland said. “Here the public interest is magnified by the large number of searches, the quantity of drugs and firearms allegedly seized and by the fact that the mayor has been associated with individuals who appear to have been the subject of the investigation.”

While counsel for the media outlets argued the document should be released without delay, no later than July 11, Crown attorney Paul Renwick requested a six-month adjournment, saying it was necessary to vet the document for potentially privileged information.

In a six-page ruling Tuesday, Justice Downes wrote that the Crown’s request was “unjustified” and “unreasonable.”

“The Crown’s position is not compatible with the presumption that judicial proceedings are open and public,” Downes wrote.

According to an affidavit of lead investigator Det. Gavin Horner filed by the Crown, Toronto police used two authorized wiretaps as part of their year-long project targeting a gang called the Dixon City Bloods. Police allege 48 people arrested in Toronto, Windsor, Edmonton and Detroit were operating a guns and drugs smuggling ring between Windsor and Toronto.

Police also obtained over 40 warrants, including production orders, dialed number recorder warrants, cellphone examination search warrants, access to youth records applications, resident and vehicle search warrants and authorizations to enter a dwelling.

Sources told the Star that police became aware of a video that appears to show Ford smoking crack cocaine, during surveillance for Project Traveller.

Ford also appears in a now infamous photograph with three men — two of whom were arrested as part of the sweep and one shot dead in March. That photo was taken in front of a Windsor Rd. house targeted by the search warrant the Star is trying to obtain.

Another unit on Dixon Rd., also named in the warrant, was the address that Ford blurted out at a meeting with staff, sources told the Star, saying the video could be found there.

On June 17, counsel for the Star appeared before Justice Sally Marin, who in May signed the order to seal the warrant relating to 12 addresses in Etobicoke and North York — some of which were targeted during a June 13 raid.

At that appearance in June, the Crown asked for a six-month adjournment, but was ordered to return with its position on why the warrant, or some portion, should remain sealed.

On Tuesday, the Crown submitted an interim response and again asked it be given at least a six-month adjournment to vet the document and notify those accused as part of Project Traveller who are associated with the warrant.

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“Ultimately the public will get this,” said Crown attorney Paul Renwick, who is also leading the Crown’s case against the Project Traveller accused. But he questioned the timing, citing the volume of pages potentially needing review in order to redact privileged information.

According to Horner’s affidavit, the documents used to obtain the wiretap alone total at least 1,100 pages.

The documents the Star is seeking to have unsealed consist of approximately 205 pages.