Posted on 08/13/2003 11:59:00 PM PDT by ganeshpuri89
Vancouver — Two citizens of Pakistan, one of whom had a British Columbia driver's licence, are being held by U.S. authorities in Seattle after their names showed up on an antiterrorist "no-fly list" when they tried to book one-way flights to New York.
They were nabbed at the Sea-Tac International Airport on Saturday night, less than 12 hours after a curious incident in Vancouver in which a drug suspect plunged to his death from a seventh-floor apartment balcony as he tried to flee a police raid.
The RCMP confirmed yesterday that its antiterrorism unit is investigating whether the dead man was connected to "a terrorism group or groups." He is suspected of funneling drug profits to the al-Qaeda terrorist network. Neighbours said the 31-year-old was almost always seen in the company of two men who appeared to be from "the Middle East."
Late yesterday, BC-TV identified the dead man as Mohammad Saleh Aramesh. Like the two men taken into custody in Seattle, he was Pakistani.
While not confirming a link between the two events, RCMP spokesman Corporal Pierre Lemaitre said it was "safe to say" that members of the Mounties' special Integrated National Security Enforcement Team were in touch with the FBI over the matter.
"Obviously, they are talking to each other. For them not to be communicating over what occurred would be silly," Corp. Lemaitre said.
Regardless of whether the two incidents are related, questions are bound to be asked about the alleged B.C. links of the two Pakistanis detained in Seattle.
The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force has launched an international investigation into their activities. The Seattle Times newspaper quoted a U.S. federal source saying that "this is going to turn into a big deal" once the identity of one of the men is confirmed.
The newspaper said that the two detainees told investigators they had been smuggled into the United States from British Columbia near the province's major border crossing point south of Vancouver.
One of the men, 36, was carrying a B.C. driver's licence, the paper said.
Saturday at Sea-Tac, airline employees became suspicious when the men tried to book separate one-way flights to New York and pay by cash, eerily similar to the procedure used by the Sept. 11 hijackers. Both names turned up on the federal "no-fly list," and they were taken to jail.
Darrin Kayser, spokesman for the Transport Security Administration, said the list contains names of people "who are a threat or propose a threat to civil aviation or national security."
U.S. immigration authorities are holding them without charge.
"They are Pakistan male aliens," said Michael Milne, spokesman for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Seattle. "We want to determine how they entered the United States and whether or not they are in the United States legally."
Mr. Milne said no date has been set for a hearing on their immigration status. He refused to provide further details.
But Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Greenberg, a Seattle counterterrorism prosecutor in Seattle, told reporters: "We are expending all available resources toward the investigation."
Canadian government officials said they were unable to comment on the Seattle arrests. They said they were reviewing the Seattle Times' report, and did not confirm or deny it.
If the three Pakistani nationals are found to be linked in a terrorist cell, Canada would certainly come under more fire from those in the United States who consider this country a haven for illegal immigrants and an organizational comfort zone for planning terrorist attacks.
Ahmed Ressam, convicted of a terrorist plot to blow up Los Angeles International Airport, spent many years in Canada fighting for refugee status, and several months in Vancouver making explosives before his arrest at a U.S. border point.
Meanwhile, at the Heather House apartment building in Vancouver's West End where Mr. Aramesh lived, residents said they barely knew the man.
Eric Vaughan, who had the next-door apartment, said he never saw Mr. Aramesh. Peter Harwood, who lives on the 10th floor, said he would smile and wave to the man but they never really spoke to each other.
"He wasn't usually by himself."
Another said he always saw the man with his two friends. Police said he died when he slipped and fell trying to jump to an adjacent balcony.
With reports from Gwendolyn Richards and Colin Freeze
New travel warning put out by the State Dept today for Indonesia and Saudi Arabia..... now this.
These two plus the dead guy weren't the only members of this cell I'll wager.
Or our intel and law enforcement agencies have been effectively pursuing excellent intel.
That means they must have some type of hidden or disguised explosive or incendiary device. "Shampoo" etc.
You can bet their baggage etc is getting the microscopic examination.
If they had no devices, they were probably sent as scouts to test the security.
I would expect scouts to return home after the mission. The one-way tickets are curious indeed.
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