Posted on 03/31/2006 4:12:43 AM PST by Clive
TORONTO - An alleged terrorist -- with links to al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden -- has been arrested in the GTA while trying to flee the country, Sun Media immigration sources say.
In one of the most significant terrorism arrests in Canada since 9/11, a man believed to be a captain of the Pakistani extremist organization Mujahedin-E-Lashkar-E-Tayyba, or LET, which is funded by Osama bin Laden and has direct ties to al-Qaida, was arrested March 16 by Canadian border service officers in Newmarket.
Intelligence sources say members of LET have been trained in Afghan terrorist camps.
Ontario immigration sources say 40-year-old Raja Ghulam Mustafa, a Pakistani national who went by the last name Murtaza, was arrested outside his home with a packed suitcase and a significant amount of cash on him.
TIPPED OFF?
After the arrest by the Canadian border service's Greater Toronto Enforcement Centre officers, Mustafa's residence was searched and a briefcase containing fraudulent documents and a laptop were seized, officials said.
It's believed Mustafa may have been tipped off that GTEC officers were investigating him, so he made plans to flee Canada to the U.S.
Officials told Sun Media Mustafa was "surprised" that he had been found by law enforcement.
Sources say Mustafa had already given his landlady notice that he would be leaving.
He is currently being held at the Toronto West Detention Centre.
In 1997, Mustafa was arrested in the U.S. but was released on a peace bond after he filed a claim for refugee status.
PHONY NAME
During that time, officials said he fled to Canada under a phony name. He was eventually able to secure refugee status here.
Mustafa moved to Newmarket to live with his brother-in-law Syed Maqsood Aly, a fugitive wanted in the U.S. for drug trafficking and fraud, according to sources.
Yesterday, both Canadian Border Services Association and Immigration and Refugee Board officials were tight-lipped on the arrest.
Charles Hawkins, spokesman for the IRB in Toronto, said he couldn't comment on the case. The Canada Border Services Agency also refused to comment on the case.
However, Sun Media has learned the case will be dealt with in private immigration hearings.
The last terrorism-related case of this magnitude in Canada was the arrest of 24-year-old Abdullah Khadr in his family's Toronto home.
Khadr faces extradition to the U.S. on charges of procuring weapons for the al-Qaida terror network for use against U.S. forces.
He faces a maximum of life imprisonment.
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What the heck is a peace bond?
"It's believed Mustafa may have been tipped off that GTEC officers were investigating him, so he made plans to flee Canada to the U.S." - why, because its easier to get into?...
"Mustafa moved to Newmarket to live with his brother-in-law Syed Maqsood Aly, a fugitive wanted in the U.S. for drug trafficking and fraud, according to sources." So are the Canadians providing refuge for the brother?...
Have the Yanks requested extradition?
Didn't he play a supporting role in the Lion King?...
Oh I thought this was another article about Cynthia McKinney....
I wonder what the heck this means? I've noticed that Canada is really acronym-happy. Whereas in the US the same thing exists, it is limited pretty much to government weenies and the military.
In Canada it's different. Even third graders there probably know what GTA means.
Alas, I have no clue...
From all appearances, The bureaucracy in Canada is just as vulnerable to forgeries and fake IDs as the U.S. is. The only common thread that I can think of is "multiculturalism" and, unintended consequences.
Should we reexamine if the benefits outweigh the consequences?
This includes the Town of Markham that abuts Toronto to the north.
BTTT
Seems like nice guy. Don't hold a few thousand deaths of innocents against him.
Publius6961:
"From all appearances, The bureaucracy in Canada is just as vulnerable to forgeries and fake IDs as the U.S. is. The only common thread that I can think of is "multiculturalism" and, unintended consequences."
At the time that he came to Canada from the US, about 70 percent of refugee claimants came to Canada by land across the border from the US.
There was a similar flow the other way.
Once he made it into Canada, a refugee claimant could not be sent back to the US as he had no status there to oblige the US to accept him.
That let the refugee cook up whatever fanciful story that would impress the board to prevent him from being sent back to his actual home country.
The same situation applied southbound.
This allowed forum shopping across the "world's longest undefended border".
Canada and the US now have a deal to treat each other as safe third countries and to send such a claimant back across the border to make or complete his refugee status claim there.
Here's a few other Toronto-centric acronyms used daily: TTC, DVP, ETR, QEW, ACC, MLSE, GST, PST, TSX, TIFF, ROM, AGO...
Ping
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