2 Grilled Here

2 Grilled Here

Trade Center Backdrop Used For Photos Taken In Air-Crew Uniforms

by Tom Godfrey and George Christopoulos
The Toronto Sun
September 15, 2001

FBI anti-terrorist agents are grilling two men arrested here who are suspected of links to the attacks on Washington and New York City.

The men, who had pictures of themselves dressed in flight-crew uniforms against fake backdrops of the World Trade Center, were questioned for hours yesterday in a protective wing of the Metro West Detention Centre, police said.

The first suspect, an unidentified Middle Eastern man in his 20s, was arrested at Pearson airport on Tuesday as he arrived on a flight that had been diverted from the U.S.

He was among 14 travellers on flights diverted from the U.S. who were arrested by police and immigration for a range of offences, including possessing drugs and phony documents. "The person was of interest to the RCMP following the incident in the U.S.," said force spokesman Sgt. Paul Marsh. "This person had photographs that were of interest to us."

Marsh refused to disclose the nature of the photographs.

Police sources said the man had several photos of himself in a flight-crew uniform against a fake backdrop of the World Trade Center. "He had his thumbs up and he was smiling," the sources said. "He appeared to be having a good time."

MAINTENANCE ENGINEER

Police said the man arrived on a flight from the Middle East around noon Tuesday and told immigration officials he was an aircraft maintenance engineer working at Gaza airport.

He was charged under the Immigration Act for being inadmissible to Canada. The man had an immigration hearing in prison on Thursday.

Federal immigration officials refused comment yesterday.

The FBI were also questioning suspected Islamic terrorist Mohammad Zeki Majoub, 41, of Egypt, who was arrested in downtown Toronto in June last year.

Police sources said Majoub was grilled because a similar picture of him in front of the fake WTC towers was found in the luggage of one of the U.S. hijackers.

Majoub is being detained because federal officials claim he's a threat to national security.

CSIS allege Majoub was a member of the leftist group Vanguards of Conquest, a radical wing of Al Jihad, which is funded and closely linked to Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in Tuesday's U.S. attacks.

Al Jihad played a key role in the 1998 U.S. embassy attacks in Kenya and Tanzania that left more than 200 dead.

The Mounties believe the photos could be calling cards used by the terrorists to identify those involved in plotting the attacks.

SECONDARY CHECKS

Meanwhile, dozens of Middle Eastern travellers arriving at Pearson have been sent for secondary checks since last Tuesday's attacks.

Customs officials are using profiles, meaning all young Middle Eastern men with no jobs or families here will be sent for checks.

Customs spokesman Collette Gentes-Hawn said everyone entering Canada will be checked by her officers.

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