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| Great White North |
| Canada Reveals Al Qaeda Cells’ Contacts |
| 2002-12-26 |
| Canadian intelligence experts say al Qaeda "sleeper cells" in Canada and the United States have communicated with each other as recently as this month, probably to plan attacks in the United States, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday. The disclosure follows the arrest in Ottawa last Tuesday of an Algerian man who Canada's counter-intelligence agency said had links to a top al Qaeda lieutenant of Osama bin Laden and other Islamic extremists. Canadian authorities decided to arrest Mohamed Harkat, 34, shortly after he made calls to suspected al Qaeda members in the United States, the Post reported, citing a former director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) who has been in contact with the spy agency on the matter. The Post said it was not clear precisely what triggered the arrest of Harkat. The nature of the phone calls to the United States with other al Qaeda members is also not known, but Canadian officials believe Harkat is a "sleeper" agent of al Qaeda, the report said. Harkat was arrested after Canada issued a rare national security certificate declaring him a threat and was being held pending a deportation hearing. He arrived in Canada in 1995 using a fake Saudi passport -- "the document of choice for Islamic extremists wishing to enter Canada," according to CSIS -- and was granted refugee status in 1997. He has worked as a pizza delivery man and a gas station attendant in Ottawa. But CSIS claimed that Harkat was an Islamic extremist who is a member of the bin Laden network, which has been blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacked airline attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. In a summary of its findings released by the Federal Court of Canada, the CSIS said: "The service believes that Harkat has associated with Abu Zubaydah, one of bin Laden's closest associates since the early 1990s. Abu Zubaydah was recently captured in Pakistan and has been reported to be cooperative with the United States authorities." The Post cited Canadian intelligence officials as saying Zubaydah identified Harkat to his interrogators. According to Canadian officials, the CIA and FBI have swamped Canadian authorities with requests to conduct surveillance and investigations into suspected extremists on Canadian soil, the newspaper said. It added that both U.S. agencies believe the threats are directed at the United States. |
| Posted by:Steve |