CREDIT: Chris Bolin, National Post
Posted on 08/27/2003 5:40:26 AM PDT by Loyalist
CREDIT: Chris Bolin, National Post
Terror task force documents allege that "individuals had been involved in trying to find out the measurements, the schematics of major buildings in Canada like the CN Tower." Nineteen men have been arrested.
TORONTO - Nineteen foreign students arrested by a federal anti-terrorism task force two weeks ago have possible connections to al-Qaeda and may have been scouting the CN Tower, law courts and other buildings, officials say.
Canadian authorities claimed, in documents disclosed yesterday, that police raids had turned up material suggesting the men, 18 Pakistanis and an Indian, sought information about the size and operation of Canadian landmarks.
Officials also said there had been repeated fires in the apartments inhabited by group, suggesting "that these persons may have been involved in testing explosives or making explosives in the kitchen."
The dozens of pages of documents released by the Immigration and Refugee Board elaborate on allegations that have raised fears an Islamic terrorist "network" based in Toronto was plotting attacks in Canada and the United States.
More details about the investigation, called Project Thread, are expected to be unveiled today and tomorrow when the men appear at hearings to determine whether they should remain in custody.
The men entered Canada on fraudulent student visas prior to the Sept. 11 attacks, but police claim the institution they were to attend, the Ottawa Business School, was a shell that sold false documents.
"It's not a school," an immigration official is quoted as saying in one document. "It's not a legitimate place of business and it was a concern to the officers as to what these persons were doing."
When a joint RCMP-immigration task force investigated the students, they grew alarmed at a strange pattern of behaviour that included attending flight school, visiting a nuclear plant and closely studying Canadian buildings.
"There were some indications that some individuals had been involved in trying to find out the measurements, the schematics of major buildings in Canada like the CN Tower."
"And the residence of which most of them were apparently living out of, telephone calls were uncovered as being received from certain groups that may have been involved in terrorist activities."
Officials admit their investigation is still in the early stages but say they ordered the arrest of the 19 men due to fears there was a possible threat to Canadian security.
"What we have here are people who seem to be involved with raising funds and involved with terrorist activities, whether directly or indirectly, and so this gave us the reasonable suspicion that Mr. [Aqeel] Ahmed and the other individuals that were arrested may be a threat to national security."
The men, who are being held at the Maplehurst Correctional Centre in Milton, Ont., said they were innocent and defence lawyers complained they were being held on vague suspicions.
But Immigration and Refugee Board judges ruled that, partly because of threats made by terrorist groups against the United States and other Western countries, it was reasonable to detain the men while police investigate further.
"We do not live in a vacuum," one IRB member ruled. "We realize that the current climate is one of heightened concerns when it comes to the issue of terrorism and security in this particular time, and if the Federal Court wishes to slap my hand for this they can feel free.
"The 'Western world,' so to speak, have this concern by virtue of comments made by extremist groups that they are out to get, more importantly, those in the United States and, of course, any and all who are part and parcel of that particular culture.
"Suspicions are real. Suspicions are of concern as it pertains to terrorism around the world. It was only heightened yesterday by the bomb at the United Nations in Baghdad. At any rate, there are some valid reasons to be concerned."
Immigration officials described a pattern in which the men came to Canada to study but, for the most part, did not attend classes. It is unclear what they were doing during the years they were supposed to have been studying.
The president of the Ottawa Business College, identified as "Mr. Samuel," has admitted the institution was a fraud, documents said. An employee confessed that she was instructed to issue bogus letters to students to enable them to come to Canada or remain in the country. The school charged $400 to $500 for the fake letters.
A possible British Columbia link emerged yesterday when officials disclosed that some of the Ottawa Business College students were linked to an institution in the province. Intelligence agents looked into the B.C. school and intercepted a package containing "large quantities of blank documentation, such as death certificates, hospital discharge forms, drivers' licences and membership cards for an organization" called Tehrik-e-Jafria.
Police are still investigating the Tehrik-e-Jafria group in an attempt to determine its significance.
Police and immigration officials arrested 19 of the wanted men in pre-dawn raids on Aug. 19. Several others are still being sought. Three van loads of evidence were seized during searches.
"I never commit any crime," Jahan Zaib Sawhney, one of the arrested men, told authorities last week, according to a transcript of his hearing. "You can check all background and all this. I never been to jail. I am totally innocent. I have nothing to do with Ottawa school. I just attended University of Windsor."
No, No. They are protesting Canada's steadfast support of Israel.
But wait, I don't understand.
I thought the terrorists chose targets based on lack of socialized medicine and support for the war against Iraq.
So why would they attack nice, liberal, Canada? I thought they only attacked EEEvile countries like the United States.
The tiptoeing around the political incorrectness in this article bodes ill. The Canadians seems almost apologetic about discovering this terrorist cell.
In this sentence, the writer continues to call them students, when their school is fictitious and the only studying in which the group engages was how to recreate 9/11. What's the difference between Chretien and Chirac? Chretien's closer.
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