Police in Toronto, Canada, said on Tuesday that hired gunmen appeared to be targeting Jewish sites in the city.

Gunfire and arson attacks have repeatedly hit synagogues and other Jewish sites in Toronto and other Canadian cities, without causing any fatalities.

The chief of the Toronto police, Myron Demkiw, said at a press conference that young people were being recruited through encrypted messaging apps to carry out attacks in the city, such as a shooting incident in March targeting the US consulate.

Demkiw described a “recurring and similar modus operandi, and that is criminals for hire through encrypted messaging apps.”

“Young people are hired to carry out attacks,” he said. “In order to get paid, they’re required to film their attacks. Who’s paying for this? This is what we are trying to determine.”

“It is clear that some of the people hiring these criminals want to create a sense of fear in our communities, including in the Jewish community,” he added.

Toronto Police Chief Superintendent Joseph Matthews said there were “multiple networks” that were “multi-layered.”

He said that investigators believe “the people that committed the shootings at the Jewish schools and the synagogues........

© The Times of Israel