The months-long, ongoing police investigation of Mayor Rob Ford, dubbed Project Brazen 2, has netted two more arrests of suspected drug dealers.

Barbudan Dima, 37, also known as “Dan,” was arrested Oct. 7 and charged with trafficking marijuana and possessing $2,200 obtained from the commission of a crime. Andrei Dascaluta, 34, was arrested roughly two weeks later and charged with the same offences.

The men were charged more than one month after they allegedly sold a pound of marijuana to an undercover police officer trying to infiltrate a possible drug-dealing operation based out of Richview Square in Etobicoke, a plaza said to be frequently visited by the mayor.

Details of activities at the strip mall contained in this article are derived from police documents and have not been proven in court.

The plaza — home to a dry-cleaning business and jewellery store and a nexus of activity under police surveillance — had been visited by Ford and his friend and occasional driver Alexander “Sandro” Lisi.

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On one occasion, police watched as Lisi walked into the dry cleaners empty-handed and exited minutes later carrying a pizza box. The dry cleaner’s owner, Jamshid Bahrami, told an undercover officer that Ford is a “nice guy” who visits the plaza all the time.

And so, in late August, under the direction of top Toronto police detectives, the undercover cop aimed to do a deal with Lisi, suspected of being the marijuana supplier to the dry cleaner.

The officer’s gambit: Deliberately leave a package of Zig-Zag rolling papers — often used to roll marijuana joints — in the pocket of a shirt he dropped off for dry cleaning. It worked. Bahrami saw the papers.

The men chatted about smoking weed, girls, strip clubs, housing prices and how to get a quarter-pound of weed.

Bahrami would later tell the undercover officer that Lisi was the supplier but was squirrelly because his name appeared in a Star article about Mayor Ford’s associates and he wanted to lay low, according to a search warrant application used in the investigation of Lisi.

Bahrami told the officer he had another guy, right next door, Dan at Richview Jewellers, who could supply the weed.

“Dan” was Barbudan Dima.

At Richview Jewellers, owner Avram Sufrin told the Star Dima “doesn’t work for me. We speak Romanian. Lots of Romanians come to see me. From time to time, he came to me with a customer and I made a (jewellery) sale and would give him a commission. In my store, no drugs, no guns and no funny money.”

Dima works as an installer of condo balcony railings.

“Mr. Dima has faith that the system will do what it’s supposed to do, that the right thing will happen at the end,” said his lawyer, Dan Gavrilovic, who added, “I don’t believe he has” had any interactions with Ford and Lisi.

Dascaluta’s lawyer also told the Star his client does not know Lisi, Mayor Ford or “anything that goes on at that strip mall.”

“Clearly they were not the focus of the investigation,” said lawyer Philippe Benayon. “Just because they intersected (with the investigation), they’re being drawn in.”

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On Aug. 28, the dry cleaner, Bahrami, left the undercover cop a voicemail saying, “So your shirt (is) ready by 7 o’clock.” The next day, in a meeting in the dry cleaner’s washroom, Dima agreed to sell the undercover cop a pound of weed for $2,400, police allege.

The two men arranged a meeting that night at Sherway Gardens mall. Bahrami assured the officer that Dima’s “s--- is good,” police said.

“I only trust two guys — Dan and Sandro,” the dry cleaner advised.

However, Dima bailed on that meeting, and bailed on another that was set for several days later.

They rescheduled for Sept. 4. The undercover cop complained to Bahrami about Dima repeatedly calling off their deals.

Maybe he thinks you’re a cop, the dry cleaner said. The cop laughed.

That afternoon, Dima, a toddler in tow, pulled into the plaza driving a green Volvo registered to a Stoney Creek restaurant. He was under a suspended driver’s licence at the time.

The manager of the Barbara Caffé in Stoney Creek told the Star he has never heard of Dima and does not know how or why he was driving one of the company’s 12 vehicles on the day of the alleged drug deal.

“I haven’t got a clue. The name doesn’t even ring a bell. We’ve been in business for 20 years and we have a good reputation in our community,” said Joe Deluca, who speculated that Dima borrowed the Volvo from one of the restaurant’s employees.

Back in the Richview plaza, Dima told the undercover cop that he was still waiting for the stuff to arrive from Hamilton. The men agreed to discount $200 because of the repeated delays.

At last, another man, this one driving a black Mazda, arrived and spoke to Dima. He then left Richview plaza and returned a short time later with the marijuana. Police later traced the car to Andrei Dascaluta. The police documents say Dascaluta has a previous conviction for fraud and was prohibited by a court order from leaving his hometown of Hamilton.

The exchange happened in the dry cleaners’ washroom: $2,200 for two vacuum-sealed bags of marijuana. Other officers followed the two men as they drove off.

After the exchange, the undercover cop told Bahrami he wanted to deal with his other supplier.

The two men kept in touch for weeks “for the sole purpose of narrowing the time line of the delivery of the marijuana to the dry cleaners by Lisi,” according to the police document.

On Oct. 1, Bahrami advised the officer that Lisi had dropped off “shirts” for him at the cleaners — a half-pound of weed.

That night, after this second deal, police arrested Lisi and Bahrami in the Richview plaza. The men were handed drug trafficking charges.