Al-Qaida Search Heats Up

Al-Qaida Search Heats Up

by Tom Godfrey
The Toronto Sun
October 21, 2001

The RCMP say some suspected Osama bin Laden sympathizers have fled the Toronto area as 2,000 officers and local police intensify their manhunt for al-Qaida members.

And the Mounties are probing dozens of tips that al-Qaida ringleader Mohamed Atta spent time in Toronto and was seen several times at downtown's Best Copy shop.

An RCMP task force called Project O-Canada has placed 10-12 al-Qaida suspects under surveillance in the Toronto area. The squad has been ordered to disrupt any terror network activity here, determine any role in the Sept. 11 attacks and catch any living accomplices.

The Mounties said some suspects have fled Canada or gone underground after their names were found on phone and financial logs seized from the copy shop and the Jameson Ave. apartment of refugee claimant Nabil Al-Marabh.

The Mounties said those who bolted arrived in Canada as foreign students and refugee claimants.

Their names have been added to an Interpol database

Police believe three suspected terrorists nabbed in Alberta last week were on the run when arrested in Fort McMurray.

U.S. police have also issued a warrant for Zakariya Essabar, 24, who used to share an apartment with Atta in Germany.

He and two other others, who were frequent visitors of Atta, have disappeared.

Meanwhile, residents and businessmen near the Charles St. W. shop said suicide pilot Atta was among some of the suspected terrorists who worked sporadically at the store.

Residents said there was a prayer room that could seat about a dozen people, and several photocopy machines in the basement of the shop.

"There were people going and coming from that place all the time," said one of three residents who was interviewed by the RCMP.

"I am 110% sure I saw Atta in the store more than once."

Atta is accused of planning the Sept. 11 attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. He hijacked the first jet that flew into the World Trade Center. Atta, the accused al-Qaida U.S cell leader, travelled across that country meeting with operatives.

He also made trips to Afghanistan, Spain, Germany and the Czech Republic.

Residents told the RCMP there was a large picture of bin Laden inside the store and Al-Marabh was frequently behind the counter.

Al-Marabh, 35, who was nabbed trying to sneak into the U.S. in the back of a truck, was arrested in Chicago for his alleged role in the attacks. Police have accused him of funnelling cash and fake documents to al-Qaida terrorists in the U.S.

RCMP Const. Michele Paradis refused to discuss the ongoing probe.

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