Free Republic

Toronto and Islamabad — Anwar-ur-Rehman Mohammed is a pharmacist who left his wife and children behind in southern India to live in a tiny, cluttered basement apartment in Markham in the hopes of obtaining a prestigious commercial pilot's licence. Instead, he wasted $50,000, did not graduate and despairs of getting a licence after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Saif Ulla Khan is a 42-year-old refugee claimant from Faisalabad, Pakistan, who was picked up by police because he shared an apartment with his brother, a suspect in an immigration raid. He was found hiding in a pile of laundry, and...

TORONTO (CP) - The detention review of 19 foreign students and refugee claimants suspected of al-Qaida ties began Wednesday with a ruling that one of the men would continue to be held because he may pose a national security threat. An immigration review board hearing was told Muhammad Asif Aziz entered Canada nearly four years ago at an unknown U.S. border point by hiding in a truck that drove to Montreal. At the time, the board heard, he gave his name as Asif Yasin Mohammad and a birth date different to what is now on record with Immigration officials. Aziz...

TORONTO (CP) - Federal immigration officials have set aside two days this week for a review of the detention of 19 men with suspected terrorist links. The men were arrested Aug. 14, the day a massive power outage hit Ontario and parts of the United States, and are currently being held at the Maplehurst Correctional Centre in Milton, Ont., west of Toronto. They had their first detention review last week, when it was decided they would remain at the facility, Charles Hawkins, a spokesman for the Toronto region of the Immigration and Refugee Board, said Monday after releasing the names...

WAR ON TERROR Did police thwart 9-11-style attack? Parallels drawn between 19 Pakistanis arrested in Toronto area, 19 hijackers Posted: August 22, 2003 5:00 p.m. Eastern The behavior and characteristics of 19 Pakistani men arrested in Toronto bear striking similarities to the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers, including the use of fraudulent student visas, the attendance of flight school and an association with a Muslim charity flagged by authorities for having ties to al-Qaida. The 19 were picked up by immigration-enforcement agents and officers from four Canadian police departments during pre-dawn raids throughout the Greater Toronto area last Thursday. Some of...

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian police arrested 19 men last week in a case that, according to court documents obtained by a newspaper, has eerie parallels to the preparations for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokeswoman Michele Paradis on Friday confirmed the arrests but declined to offer details. "We arrested 19 people last Thursday," Paradis said, adding the operation had involved four police departments from across the Greater Toronto area. "They're all related and it's all part of, what we're alleging, has to do with a group taking advantage of a system -- the...

Citizenship officer triggered alarm One man enrolled in flight school MICHELLE SHEPHARD AND BETSY POWELL STAFF REPORTERS A man enrolled in a flight school — where training involves flying over the Pickering nuclear power plant — is one of 19 people being held in a Toronto-area jail while federal officers investigate possible links to terrorist groups. Police from several forces acting in partnership with Citizenship and Immigration Canada conducted pre-dawn raids throughout the Toronto area last week, arresting some of the men on alleged immigration violations while others are now being held without any charges being laid but as a...

Police arrest 19 in terror probe Citizenship officer triggered alarm One man enrolled in flight school MICHELLE SHEPHARD AND BETSY POWELL STAFF REPORTERS A man enrolled in a flight school — where training involves flying over the Pickering nuclear power plant — is one of 19 people being held in a Toronto-area jail while federal officers investigate possible links to terrorist groups. Police from several forces acting in partnership with Citizenship and Immigration Canada conducted pre-dawn raids throughout the Toronto area last week, arresting some of the men on alleged immigration violations while others are now being held without any...

Canada Arrests 19 in Case with Sept 11 Parallels 37 minutes ago Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo! TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian police arrested 19 men last week in a case that, according to court documents obtained by a newspaper, has eerie parallels to the preparations for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokeswoman Michele Paradis on Friday confirmed the arrests but declined to offer details. "We arrested 19 people last Thursday," Paradis said, adding the operation had involved four police departments from across the Greater Toronto area. "They're all related and...