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Gaps found in border database
Dangerous individuals not red-flagged

Adrian Humphreys
National Post

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Five suspected terrorists with links to Canada -- including three facing US$5-million bounties and another wanted in the bombing of the World Trade Center -- are not flagged as wanted or dangerous in the computer system used by front-line officers at Canada's borders.

Also not listed as being dangerous in the border database are about half of the people on a government list of wanted war criminals, many on the RCMP's Most Wanted list and the top offenders wanted by the Ontario Provincial Police's Repeat Offender Parole Enforcement squad, the National Post has learned.

Recent checks of dozens of wanted men -- described as "some of the worst of the worst" -- on the Primary Automated Lookout System (PALS) computer database used by Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers at land border crossings failed to identify them as possibly armed and considered dangerous, sources say.

That leaves officers blind to the danger they may face and unprepared to respond appropriately should the wanted individuals attempt to flee into the country, critics say.

The checks were done on dozens of men on the PALS database this summer. Included in the search were five men wanted by the FBI in relation to terrorism investigations, including:

- Abderraouf Jdey, a Canadian citizen who lived in Montreal and faces a US$5-million reward from the U.S. government for his arrest. The U.S. government says Mr. Jdey trained with the 9/11 hijackers and appeared in a "martyrdom video" found in an al-Qaeda base in 2001;

- Faker Ben Abdelazziz Boussora, another Canadian citizen facing a US$5-million bounty, is sought for possible terrorist activity within the United States. Authorities are concerned he may attempt to return to Canada to plan a terrorist attack;

- Amer el-Maati, a third Canadian citizen, is wanted by terrorism investigators. A licensed pilot and suspected al-Qaeda member, he is accused of planning to hijack a plane and crash it into a U.S. building, according to the FBI;

- Adnan El Shukrijumah, also with a posted US$5-million reward for his arrest, is wanted for possible terrorist threats and, according to the FBI, may be travelling on a Canadian passport.

- Abdul Rahman Yasin, an Iraqi, is accused of helping to build the truck bomb used in the attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 that preceded the 9/11 attacks.

When Messrs. El-Maati, El Shukrijumah and Yasin were run on PALS they came back only as being subject to a simple immigration inquiry -- with no indication of terrorism concerns or warnings of possible danger, a source said.

When Mr. Jdey was run, he came back as being subject to "Other Agency Requirements" with no other cautions or hints at greater concerns.

Only Mr. Boussora came back as being a look-out suspect for terrorism, although there are no specific cautions listed in his entry.

"Some of the names [on the terror watch lists and most-wanted lists] we don't even have them in our databases. With others, we get only one hit back in our database. Even if the person is wanted and considered armed and dangerous, the computer usually defaults to an immigration hit that could refer to any number of benign matters," said a customs agent who requested anonymity.

"The officer is then going to hand them a piece of paper and ask them to go to a secondary inspection and they are expected to stand in line, possibly behind your grandparents arriving in Canada," the agent said.

"Not 100% of the time. Sometimes it pops up that he is armed and dangerous."

The shortcomings put national security and citizen safety at risk, said Gord Brown, an Ontario Conservative MP for Leeds-Grenville, a riding containing two border crossings.

"Border security needs to be more than shaking down Canadians for a few bucks when they go on a shopping trip and needs to be in place to keep criminals and terrorists out of our country," Mr. Brown said.

"There are not adequate resources going to protecting our country. The front-line officers -- and I have talked with many of them -- don't have the critical information they need."

The issue of concern over the safety of border agents comes as an independent security consulting firm, hired by the Customs and Excise Union, begins an analysis of the need for agents to carry guns.

The Northgate Group will begin by visiting a customs border site in Cornwall tomorrow, said Scott Newark, senior associate with Northgate.

The union requested co-operation from CBSA in allowing Northgate access to sites and permission to interview staff. CBSA declined.

Alain Jolicoeur, CBSA president, said in a letter to the union that its own review of the situation was thorough and that $135-million has already been allocated to implement its recommendations. The final version of that report does not recommend guns.

A report last June by the Senate Committee on National Security and Defence, however, recommended arming border agents if an RCMP presence cannot be maintained at all border crossings.