-Caveat Lector-
From
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4287325,00.html
}}}>Begin
Ottawa dispatch
Container Boy sparks terror fears
The arrest of a man stowed away on a container ship triggered renewed
concerns over security, writes Anne McIlroy
Anne McIlroy
Monday October 29, 2001
The Guardian
He was well dressed, carried a laptop computer and appeared no
different than any other business traveller except for the fact he
had chosen to come to Canada in a metal box.
Italian police arrested Amir Farid Rizk under new anti-terrorism
legislation last week after finding him stowed away in a steel box on
a container ship, on the eve of a three-week Atlantic crossing to
Canada.
Canadian officials were also alarmed, worried he might be a terrorist
with a devious plan to sneak into the country undetected.
His box was furnished with a bed and a bucket and was stocked with
food and water. Mr Rizk also had a satellite phone, maps and security
passes for airports in Canada, Thailand and Egypt. He was travelling
with a Canadian
passport, which officials thought might be a forgery.
He had not thought about air quality, and began pounding on the walls of his box after
arriving in the Italian port from Egypt because he was having trouble breathing.
"We were informed by the Italian authorities that this gentleman is detained in
southern Italy on suspicion - or accusation ... of association with terrorist groups,"
a spokesperson for the foreign affairs department said
.
The Italian prosecutor Roberto Di Palma said he had "documents and apparatus that no
ordinary clandestine immigrant would have been able to afford".
His discovery prompted the Canadian opposition leader, Stockwell Day, to urge the
government to increase the inspections of container ships less other terrorists choose
to follow the same uncomfortable route to get to Nor
th America.
The alarm, however, was short-lived. The passport turned out to be legitimate. Mr Rizk
is a Canadian citizen, but was born in Egypt. While police here are still
investigating, by Friday afternoon solicitor Lawrence MacAul
ay was giggling about the incident, and referring to Mr Rizk as "Container Boy".
It was one of the few moments of political levity in Canada since the September 11
terrorist attack in New York and Manhattan. There are daily false alarms about deadly
anthrax being sent through the mail, and the governm
ent is spending millions on new security measures. A recent poll showed that many
Canadians are stressed out over fears of another attack, and many are having trouble
sleeping.
Container Boy, it appears, is one less thing to worry about. His story is that he was
actually fleeing Islamic fundamentalists. An Italian-language newspaper in Canada
reports that his family are Christians, but his siste
r had married, a Muslim who was aggressively trying to convert them all to Islam.
The sister divorced her husband, and fled to Canada. Mr Rizk is said to have feared
that his brother-in-law would try to stop him from leaving the country. His lawyer
said he has been a Canadian citizen for almost 20 year
s.
He would have had no trouble getting into Canada with his passport,
so his story that he confined himself to a box in order to get out of
Egypt appears to make some sense.
He had a plane ticket to Montreal, but it appears he thought he had a
better chance of slipping away hidden on board a ship. The satellite
phone, according to his lawyer, was to call his mother.
Canadian and Italian police, however, are still investigating, and
want to know if the airport security passes he was carrying would
have allowed him to plant a bomb on an aeroplane.
It may yet turn out that Mr Rizk is a terrorist masquerading as one
very odd Canadian. But it appears he was so anxious to get home he
was willing to spend a month in a metal box.
Guardian Unlimited � Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001
End<{{{
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