Canadian police thwart alleged Toronto terror plot

[spaminator]

Toronto terror suspect became citizen last spring, public safety committee told
Dominic Leblanc was short on answers on how an alleged ISIS terrorist obtained citizenship

Author of the article:Bryan Passifiume
Published Aug 28, 2024 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read

The man arrested in a foiled Toronto terror plot became a Canadian citizen just two months before his arrest, chronologies presented to the House Public Safety Committee on Wednesday show.


And despite extolling the virtues of Canada’s immigration backstop that inexplicably permitted an alleged ISIS terrorist to gain citizenship, Canada’s Public Safety minister faced tough questions — and provided few answers — while testifying.

Dominic LeBlanc praised officials for the July arrest of Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi and son Mostafa Eldidi, who are accused in a foiled terror attack.

“These individuals were arrested on July 28 of this year, and are now charged with nine serious offences, including terrorism-related offences and are currently incarcerated,” LeBlanc said in his opening remarks.

“This is the way that the investigative and national security system should work.”

Despite LeBlanc’s assurances, Canada’s investigative and national security framework catastrophically failed, seemingly unable to detect the elder Eldidi’s alleged ties to ISIS.


News reports accused Eldidi of participating in a 2015 ISIS torture video shot in Iraq, featuring an alleged spy being dismembered by a sword.

In a chronology provided to the committee less than an hour before the meeting started, Eldidi arrived in Canada on Feb. 5, 2018, and applied for refugee status that summer.

He became a permanent resident in September 2021, applied for citizenship two years later, and became a citizen in May 2024 — three months before his arrest.

Eldidi was subjected to numerous security screenings by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and CSIS throughout that process, which he easily passed.

When asked by committee member Frank Caputo how Eldidi managed to fly under the radar for six years, LeBlanc couldn’t provide an answer, repeating that Eldidi cleared all security checks in place at the time.


“In fact, we actually had to hear from a foreign government about this, isn’t that right?” Caputo asked, referring to CSIS learning about Eldidi’s terror plot from French intelligence.



LeBlanc continued to duck the question, explaining that intelligence agencies don’t disclose their sources.

“Equally as troubling as that answer, is the fact that we, as Canadians, did not have this intelligence for ourselves.” Caputo said.

All efforts by Caputo to glean answers were met with similar stonewalling, with LeBlanc insisting it’s both “inappropriate, if not illegal” to provide answers and blaming the ongoing investigation for his silence.


LeBlanc said later that a review is being carried out to determine how the Eldidis fell through the cracks.

When asked by committee member Larry Brock why Eldidi’s alleged participation in that ISIS torture video didn’t trigger an alert, LeBlanc responded by accusing Brock of being more interested in creating video clips for social media instead of answering the question.

When pressed by Brock, LeBlanc first implied the video didn’t exist, but then said officials probably weren’t aware of the video, implying it wasn’t publicly known.

But despite these claims, the video Eldidi allegedly appeared in — released in June 2015 entitled “Deterring of the Spies #1 – Wilayat Dijlah” — is listed in chronologies and academic papers highlighting ISIS’s video propaganda system.

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
X: @bryanpassifiume

http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1082&context=political_science_theses

Toronto terror suspect became citizen last spring, public safety committee told

Public Safety Minister Dominic Leblanc was short on answers testifying Wednesday on how an alleged ISIS terrorist obtained citizenship

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

Alleged terrorist passed years of security screenings on road to citizenship
Author of the article:Bryan Passifiume
Published Aug 28, 2024 • 2 minute read
The pair were arrested in Richmond Hill on July 28 and face nine different terrorism charges including conspiracy to commit murder on behalf of the ISIS terror group.
OTTAWA — Despite arriving less than an hour before the start of Wednesday’s national security committee meeting, official chronologies on Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi’s six-year journey toward Canadian citizenship show numerous opportunities for security officials to detect his alleged ISIS membership.


In the chronology, Eldidi — an Egyptian national who along with his son Mostafa Eldidi is accused of plotting a foiled terror attack — applied for a temporary resident (visitor) visa in December 2017, but was rejected after being branded a potential non-visitor. A subsequent application, with undisclosed additional information attached, was approved roughly a month later.

Initial security and biometric screenings identified no risk factors, so Eldidi’s application wasn’t forwarded to Canada Border Services Agency or Canadian Security Intelligence Service for a closer look. This was roughly two years after Eldidi allegedly participated in an ISIS torture video in June 2015.

One month later, Eldidi arrived at Toronto Pearson International Airport on Feb 5, 2018. That June, Eldidi claimed asylum, triggering another security assessment.



While a “risk indicator” was indeed addressed during an interview, details were not disclosed.

Eldidi’s successful refugee claim triggered a second security assessment that he also passed without issue.

The same “risk indicator” surfaced again upon Eldidi’s attempt to obtain a work permit in September 2018, but officials rubber-stamped the application anyway.

Eldidi applied for permanent resident status in April 2019, again with the undisclosed risk indicator listed on his file.

“Application referred to CSIS and CBSA for comprehensive security screening in (January 2021),” the chronology said.


“Security screening partners returned a favourable recommendation.”

Permanent resident status was granted in September 2021 with an application for citizenship following two years later. That again prompted a CSIS security screening, which Eldidi passed.


A final security check was triggered when Eldidi was granted citizenship in May — just one month before intelligence officials in France tipped off CSIS and two months before his arrest in a Richmond Hill hotel room.

Citizenship also came with a request for the RCMP to purge Eldidi’s biometric data from their systems.

During his testimony before the committee on Wednesday, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said that while CSIS became aware of the Eldidis in June, he personally wasn’t informed until a July 24 CSIS briefing with the RCMP — four days before the pair’s arrest.

“CSIS has been assessing the threat from these individuals based on recent intelligence,” he said.

“I was assured of, and briefed on, the close surveillance of the threat, including at the appropriate time by members of the RCMP who were positioned to act on any indicators of an escalating or imminent threat.”

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
X: @bryanpassifiume

Alleged terrorist passed years of security screenings on road to citizenship

Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi's journey toward citizenship shows numerous opportunities for officials to detect his alleged ISIS membership.

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

Security screening tarnished by accused terrorist's citizenship quest
Man accused of terror plot in Toronto screened half-dozen times by officials, documents show


Author of the article:Brian Lilley
Published Aug 28, 2024 • Last updated 3 hours ago • 3 minute read

When Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi first tried to come to Canada, he was rejected. That was the right answer and I wish it had stayed that way, but sadly he was not only let in but granted citizenship.


“This is the way that the investigative and national security system should work,” Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said in his opening statement before a Commons committee on Wednesday.

LeBlanc was appearing before the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, where it was revealed that Eldidi, now accused of plotting a potential terror attack, was screened by our intelligence agencies a half-dozen times. That fact alone is a damning indictment of our system and calls into question how secure our screening is as we bring in thousands of people from Gaza, an area ruled by the Hamas terrorist group.

Eldidi is the father portion of the father-son duo arrested at the end of July on terrorism-related charges. Among the charges Eldidi is facing is one for aggravated assault, contrary to Sec. 83.2 of the Criminal Code.


That section is specific to committing an indictable offence “for the benefit of, at the direction of or in association with a terrorist group.” The accusation is Eldidi was the star of a 2015 ISIS terror and torture video, in which he allegedly performed unspeakable acts on another man.



That this allegation wasn’t unearthed by our security services before he was granted citizenship has led to many questions. The Trudeau government, though, has spent the last month dodging those questions, but less than an hour before Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc showed up to testify, a chronology of events was released.


Eldidi first tried to come to Canada in late 2017, but was denied a visa because he was deemed a “potential non-genuine visitor.” That assessment seems to have been accurate because Eldidi wasn’t just looking to visit Canada from Egypt, he was looking to claim asylum here.

In January 2018, after submitting new information to Canadian officials, Eldidi was granted a “temporary resident visa” and was allowed to enter Canada. He arrived in the country that February via Pearson airport and in June 2018 claimed asylum.

In both his initial visa application (which was rejected) and the secondary one (which was approved), Eldidi was subject to security screening including biometrics, such as fingerprints.

After his asylum claim was made, Eldidi was subjected to biometrics and security screening again.


“Application was reviewed and a favourable recommendation was provided by security screening partners,” the government’s chronology said.

If hearing “biometrics” as a screening tool makes you feel better, it shouldn’t; it just means that we didn’t find his fingerprints in an existing database.

Eldidi worked the system to quickly move from asylum claimant to getting a work permit, then permanent resident status and finally citizenship in May. Then in June, security officials who had approved him at every step began monitoring him after a tip from our allies in France that something was up.


In July, Eldidi and his son Mostafa were arrested and accused of an alleged terror plot aimed at Toronto’s Jewish community.


Asked time and again about the failure to stop a man who allegedly starred in an ISIS torture video from entering the country, LeBlanc refused to say it was a failure. Clearly it was, though Liberal MPs on the committee tried to portray his arrest as a success.

Sure, the cops stopping an alleged terror attack before it happens is a good thing, but we are supposed to have layers of security to stop those who were allegedly involved in terrorism from coming here and getting citizenship.

Right now, the Trudeau government is in the process of bringing in thousands of people from Gaza. They are trying to assure the public that there is no threat thanks to “biometrics” and “security screening.”

Based on what you have heard about the Eldidi case, do you still feel confident or secure?

LILLEY: Security screening tarnished by accused terrorist's citizenship quest

When Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi first tried to come to Canada, he was rejected. But that did not stop him from being granted citizenship.

torontosun.com

 

[Ron in Regina]

When Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi first tried to come to Canada, he was rejected. That was the right answer and I wish it had stayed that way, but sadly he was not only let in but granted citizenship.

If it first you don’t succeed…