A few made it over heading north,now there could be backflow.Check those
big Canuck toilets boys!
Akwesasne reserve linked to FBI manhunt
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Globe and Mail Update with AP and CP
A native chief and an RCMP spokesman Thursday denied published reports that
five Middle Eastern men sought by the FBI may have been smuggled into the
United States through Canada.
There has also been speculation that the men entered the United States
through the Akwesasne reserve which straddles the Ontario, Quebec and New
York state borders.
"We are co-operating with U.S. authorities but as far as I know, the idea
that these five persons have been in Canada or entered the United States
from Canada is totally unsubstantiated by law enforcement authorities,"
said RCMP spokesman Sergeant Paul Marsh, who said authorities have no
evidence the men entered the U.S. through Akwesasne or anywhere else.
Akwesasne Grand Chief Raymond Mitchell also said there was a lack of evidence.
Mr. Mitchell said Thursday that his reserve is being unfairly criticized
despite a lack of solid evidence the men came through his territory.
"We get the blame right away, yet there's no proof they came through here,"
Mr. Mitchell said in an interview. "I'd like to see if they have proof to
back up what they're saying."
But Mr. Mitchell acknowledged the reserve needs more money and staff to
shore up border security.
U.S. law-enforcement agents hunting for five possible terrorists may have
been tipped off by a suspected forger sitting in a Brampton jail.
The officials have cautioned they have no specific evidence the men are
involved in a terrorist plot. However, they say the men may have
connections to a fake ID and smuggling ring.
Sgt. Marsh also stressed that the men were persons of interest to the FBI
and have not been linked to any specific terrorism threat.
By publicizing their search for the five men, who are believed to have
entered the United States through Canada, the FBI ratcheted up tension
before New Year's Eve celebrations, which ultimately went off without a
hitch in North America.
On the first day of 2003, a pair of television stations named a Brampton,
Ont., man as the source of the terror alert. NBC News and CBC's The
National said Wednesday night that Michael John Hamdani, awaiting trial for
forgery, supplied the names and details of the five men.
CBC said that police arrested two men for fraud, one of whom was Mr.
Hamdani, after a raid turned up $600,000 worth of phony travellers'
cheques, fake Pakistani drivers' licences, counterfeit passports, stacks of
passport photos and fake Canadian permanent resident cards.
Neither the RCMP nor the Peel Regional Police have commented on whether the
report is accurate.
Abid Noraiz Ali, Iftikhar Khosmai Ali, Mustafa Khan Owasi, Adil Pervez and
Akbar Jamal were named last weekend as the subjects of a U.S.-wide manhunt.
Their pictures were distributed widely, though the FBI could not verify
that their names or images were necessarily accurate.
Sgt. Marsh said there have been numerous possible sightings of the suspects
which have been followed up by Canadian authorities since Dec. 29 but
nothing has turned up.
He said the RCMP is continuing to help the FBI with its investigation.
"We are assisting the FBI we have been since the beginning," he told
globeandmail.com.
Sgt. Marsh added that Canadians need not be concerned since there "is no
specific threat I am aware of against Canada or Canadians in this matter."
In another wrinkle, Associated Press turned up a Pakistani man living in
Lahore who closely resembles Mr. Owasi, identified by the FBI as a 32-year-old.
Mohammed Ashgar, a 30-year-old jeweller, said Wednesday that he was
surprised to open a Pakistani newspaper and see his picture with another
man's name beneath it.
"I am a Pakistani and am living in my country, but American authorities
have released my picture among those who are being traced by the FBI for
entering America," he said. "I have no links with any terrorist organization."
He said his only attempt at travelling abroad was frustrated when police in
the United Arab Emirates discovered that he had a forged visa to Britain.
He suggested that document forgers he once patronized in a bid to visit
Britain could have used his picture to create false travel documents for
another man.
The FBI, meanwhile, sought Thursday to verify Mr. Ashgar's contention that
his photograph was wrongly included among those of men believed to have
entered the United States illegally from Canada.
For now, the photograph Mr. Ashgar says is his will remain on the FBI's Web
site under the name Mustafa Khan Owasi, officials said. Authorities first
want to establish whether the picture released by the FBI really is Mr. Asghar.
"Where are the other four? How come they haven't stepped forward?" said
Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the White House Office of Homeland Security.
"Maybe they're here, and if they are, maybe they're just on holiday, but we
need to know why."
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