RCMP Has 'Em Under Wraps

RCMP Has 'Em Under Wraps

Terror Suspects Nabbed

by Tom Godfrey
The Toronto Sun
November 23, 2001

The RCMP says it has detained 12 men nationwide as suspected terrorists after a Sept. 11 dragnet targeting al-Qaida operatives.

Police said the men have been charged for immigration offences and allegations they pose a threat to national security.

Officers said another 20 suspects are being detained in jails in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, as officials probe their backgrounds and immigration documents. They have not been charged. The Mounties said at least three of five men detained in Toronto were in contact with refugee claimant Nabil Al-Marabh, who U.S. police say is among their top five suspects in the U.S. attacks.

"He was right up there," one officer said yesterday on the condition of anonymity.

"We are still trying to get to the bottom of all his activities."

The Mounties have linked Al-Marabh through financial and phone records to some of the suicide pilots and other al-Qaida operatives in the U.S. Police are trying to determine if he was linked to suspects in other countries.

The Mounties suspect Al-Marabh, 35, was the head of an al-Qaida cell in Toronto, which officers said has been a hotbed of al-Qaida recruiting and banking activities.

Al-Marabh lived in Canada for six years before being arrested in Chicago for his role in Sept. 11.

Police said Al-Marabh and other al-Qaida suspects came to Canada and the U.S. in the early 1990s as refugee claimants or foreign students. Many went underground.

RCMP Sgt. Paul Marsh said information unearthed by the Mounties is channelled to a central office in Ottawa where leads are farmed out to officers nationwide.

"All information is pursued diligently," Marsh said. "All leads and tips are being followed up."

U.S. police said Al-Marabh was closely tied to pockets of al-Qaida operatives in Detroit, Chicago and New York City. He fled to Boston and then Detroit after sneaking into the U.S.

Police have identified the Toronto-area suspects as Hassan Almrei, 27, Mahmoud Jaballah, 39 and Mohamed Zeki Mahjoub, 41, who are all considered threats to national security. Abdellah Ouzghar, of Hamilton, is facing extradition to France for terrorism offences and Nageeb Al-Hadi is facing extradition to the U.S. for immigration offences.

Jaballah and Mahjoub are alleged to be members of Egyptian terror group Al Jihad, whose members were responsible for the 1981 assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat.

U.S. media reports said about 360 suspected al-Qaida operatives are behind bars worldwide as U.S. and global police seek to destroy Osama bin Laden's terrorist network.

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