Posted on 08/24/2003 1:27:00 AM PDT by sarcasm
ORONTO, Aug. 23 — A document filed at a detention hearing this week for 19 students and other immigrants from Pakistan detained by Canadian security officials for possible ties to terrorism cited a "pattern of fraudulent document use to obtain or maintain immigrant status" by the men, ages 18 to 33.
The men were detained on Aug. 14 after an investigation found that one of them was taking flying lessons at a school near an Ontario nuclear power plant.
Officials would disclose little about the investigation, but the four-page document sketched a picture of a mysterious group of men living in apartments with only computers and mattresses. The men appeared interested in explosives and in the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station outside Toronto, according to the document.
There had been unexplained fires in at least two of the men's apartments, and in police monitoring, two of the men had been seen walking outside the gates of the Pickering plant at 4:15 a.m. on a day in April 2002. The men said they wanted to take a walk on a beach.
One man was training to fly at a school whose flight paths cross over the Pickering plant, the document said. It said the men were in contact with unidentified sources who "have access to nuclear gauges" that contain small amounts of the isotope cesium 137, which can be used for making crude nuclear explosives.
"Based upon the structure of this group, their associations and connected events, there is a reasonable suspicion that these persons pose a threat to national security," the document said.
There seems little likelihood that the group was anywhere near to carrying out an attack. Government spokesmen played down the threat to security.
But the court document said a man who had lived with one suspect had worked for a charity group named Global Relief Foundation, which the United Nations has linked to supporters of Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.
Some men are being held on immigration violations and others without charges. Under new antiterrorism laws, landed immigrants and foreign citizens can be detained several days on suspicion of threatening national security. A closed detention hearing is expected next week.
An investigation into at least some of the men by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and other security forces has apparently been going on for more than a year. A police hot line received the first tips about the group shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
A Canadian immigration officer in Mexico City became suspicious in February of an application by one of the men for permanent residency to attend an Ottawa business college. The man had no apparent source of income, but showed a bank balance of $40,000.
The school turned out to be a fraudulent operation. Investigators found that 31 Pakistanis had used the school to enter Canada.
Mohammed Syed, a Toronto lawyer representing two suspects, said the police action "smacks of racism because they happen to be from Pakistan and are Muslim."
An Interesting Discussion on FREEREPUBLIC.com regarding a REUTERS article: "CANADA ARRESTS 19 IN CASE WITH SEPT. 11TH PARALLELS" (August 22, 2003) (Read More...)
WASHINGTON TIMES.com: "FBI WARNS OF AL QAEDA PLOT TO FLY JETLINER INTO BUILDING" by David Bamber, London Sunday Telegraph (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "An FBI spokesman said information about potential attacks had also identified Italy, Australia and the United States as ground targets.") (August 24, 2003) (Read More...)
I am wondering?
Do you think my observation is silly or stupid?
You can say, I am not that in-secure.
I was in the US Navy and you really can never tell!
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