Thread: Hapless immigrant or terrorist threat?

JANE ARMSTRONG AND COLIN FREEZE
VANCOUVER and TORONTO — From Tuesday's Globe and Mail Published on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009 12:00AM ESTLast updated on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009 4:23AM EST
He arrived at the Canadian border last month with plans to move to Canada permanently. But when guards at the Douglas crossing near Vancouver searched Khaled Nawaya's car, they found nearly a million dollars in Canadian mint gold coins and paper currency.

Mr. Nawaya's vehicle was full of security red flags. Border guards found a ring bearing the logo of Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based Islamist group viewed as a terrorist organization by Canada. They also uncovered 9/11 videos and a scarf depicting two former U.S. and Israeli leaders as monkeys. Mr. Nawaya, a Saudi Arabian-born Syrian citizen, is also a pilot and certified flight instructor with a degree in aeronautics. He was arrested on the spot on the night of Oct. 6.

Whether he is a threat to Canadian security or - as his lawyer suggests - a hapless would-be immigrant who believed he could bring nearly a million dollars across a border, hasn't been determined.

In the meantime, Mr. Nawaya, 35, who planned to become a flight instructor in British Columbia, is in a Vancouver-area detention centre.

His arrest touched off a flurry of activity. Canadian officials called embassies in Syria, London, and Dubai to check out the significance of the Hezbollah ring. According to transcripts from Mr. Nawaya's two detention hearings, border officials believe the money is from terrorist sources, and Mounties say they're investigating a "probable national-security nexus."

At a hearing last month, an adjudicator with the Immigration and Refugee Board ordered Mr. Nawaya to remain in custody on the grounds he may be a security threat.

"I think you have gone beyond mere speculation when someone has a Hezbollah symbol and $900,000 in cash and coins on them that is undeclared," said the adjudicator, Michael McPhalen.

Mr. Nawaya hasn't been charged with a crime.

He passed a raft of security checks to qualify for permanent residency in Canada. His lawyer, Phil Rankin, said Mr. Nawaya converted nearly all his assets to Canadian currency in the belief that he could bring it into Canada.

"He was moving to Canada as a landed immigrant," Mr. Rankin said in an interview yesterday. "He had a proper, legal permanent resident visa that was issued by the visa office in Los Angeles."

Mr. Rankin said the Hezbollah ring was a gift from his client's brother, who lives in Texas. Mr. Nawaya is not a member of the organization but does harbour some anti-Israeli sentiments. Mr. Rankin noted that this is not a crime.

"I guess the fact that he's Middle Eastern, he has a ring and a scarf was enough to send them over the deep end and it did," Mr. Rankin said.

He said a significant portion of his client's money came from a legal settlement of about $400,000 from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University over immigration advice that caused him to lose his student visa.

Randall Bruce Aiman-Smith, Mr. Nawaya's lawyer in that suit, described him as decent and mild-mannered. His current dilemma, he said, "shows his naiveté.

"He's the sweetest guy in the world," he said. "He's not a terrorist."

In two detention hearings, government lawyers asked to keep Mr. Nawaya behind bars pending further investigation.

Border guards found $70,000 in cash and about $800,000 in Canadian coins in his vehicle and another $10,000 in his pockets. Government lawyer Kamal Gill told a detention hearing that Mr. Nawaya was "adamant" that he had only $10,000.

Mr. Nawaya moved to the United States when he was 17, the IRB hearing was told. There he obtained a Bachelor of Science in Professional Aeronautics and a degree in management.

Mr. Nawaya also has an airline pilot's certificate and is a certified flight instructor in the United States.

After he lost his student status, he decided to move to Canada, Mr. Rankin said. Mr. Nawaya wired money to his brother, who bought the Canadian gold coins on the Internet.

Hezbollah is regarded as a major threat to Canada, rivalling or even exceeding al-Qaeda, some federal security officials say.

Evidence suggests Shia extremists have engaged in North American racketeering operations to finance Lebanese operations of Hezbollah, which Ottawa blacklisted in 2002.

But by all accounts, Hezbollah is a sophisticated organization. It seems unlikely that any actual operative would carry a ring signifying membership across an international border.

Mr. Nawaya has another detention hearing on Thursday in Vancouver. Mr. Rankin said his client is depressed and afraid he will be returned to Syria.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle1357424/

Border guards found $70,000 in cash and about $800,000 in Canadian coins in his vehicle and another $10,000 in his pockets. Government lawyer Kamal Gill told a detention hearing that Mr. Nawaya was "adamant" that he had only $10,000.

Lying to a Border Guard is a CRIME. EXPEL him, pronto

hapless would-be immigrant

Come on, if it looks like a duck, smells like a duck, sounds like a duck, walks like a duck, it's a duck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mr. Nawaya moved to the United States when he was 17

After he lost his student status, he decided to move to Canada,

Does this mean he was allowed to be in the US for 18 years as a student?