Canada

A number of email addresses on Mohamed Atta's cc list are Canadian:


 * cima.qc.ca
 * positron.qc.ca
 * virtualprototypes.ca
 * iprimus.ca

Former U.S. spy linked 9/11 terrorists to Canada

On Sept. 12, 2001, Vincent Cannistraro, a former CIA chief of counter-intelligence used the press as his megaphone to tell the world thirsting for information about the hijackers that five of them had entered Maine from Canada via Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, and/or a remote border point near Jackman, Maine, several hundred kilometres southeast of Quebec City. "What we know is that a five-man cell came to Maine from Canada," Cannistraro told a Montreal newspaper. "Now obviously there are two ways of doing it, by ferry or by land. I don't know which one it was but I know that the investigators believe they came from Canada." The 27-year CIA veteran said the same thing with the same conviction again and again to any newspaper, television and radio reporter who had his number.

Atta inspected on Canadian-American border

According to a supervisor of the INS office in Buffalo, a man by the name of Mohammad Atta, born on March 21, 1968 may have applied for entry to the U.S. at the Massena point of entry on November 26, 2000 from Canada. He presented a Canadian passport and was accompanied by a Pakistani citizen. As he did not have a valid driver's license, he was issued a citation and had to present himself at court to pay a fine. According to the report by the INS, the FBI did not conclusively determine whether this person had any links to the events of 9/11.91

Mohamed el-Amir was also born in 1968, that a certain Mohamed Atta was sighted in Toronto, Canada, and that the FBI was unwilling to state whether this man had something to do with 9/11.

January 2001-Summer 2001: 9/11 Hijackers Atta and Alshehhi Live in Toronto Apartment Building with Al-Marabh

The landlord and at least twelve tenants of a Toronto high rise building see 9/11 hijacker Marwan Alshehhi living there in the spring of 2001. Other witnesses recall seeing Alshehhi and/or hijacker Mohamed Atta in or near the building. Nabil al-Marabh is sporadically staying in the same building in an apartment unit owned by his uncle, Ahmed Shehab, a prominent local imam. None of the witnesses appear to have sighted any of the other hijackers. Alshehhi and Atta are also seen by eyewitnesses around this time at a Toronto photocopy shop owned by Shehab, and there are even some who see Atta occasionally working there (see January 2001-Summer 2001). [TORONTO SUN, 9/28/2001; TORONTO SUN, 9/28/2001; ABC NEWS 7 (CHICAGO), 1/31/2002] The apartment where al-Marabh stayed will not be raided by police until about two weeks after 9/11, and one week after reports of al-Marabh’s connections to the hijackers has been in the newspapers. The Toronto Sun will report, “Many [building] residents questioned why police waited so long to raid [the] apartment after al-Marabh was arrested. Several tenants alleged they had seen a man late at night during the past week, taking away boxes from the apartment.” [TORONTO SUN, 9/28/2001] Al-Marabh also shares a Toronto apartment with Hassan Almrei, a Syrian who the Canadian authorities are already suspecting for possible militant ties (see September 13, 2000 and After). One article says that are roommates in 2001, and it would likely mean early 2001 since al-Marabh leaves Toronto during the summer. Canadian authorities will later arrest Almrei and discover that he has extensive connections with al-Qaeda (see October 19, 2001). [ABC NEWS 7 (CHICAGO), 1/31/2002] Some of the 9/11 hijackers may have been in Toronto as late as the end of August 2001. A motel manager in Hollywood, Florida, will later say that Mohamed Atta and Ziad Jarrah stay at his motel on August 30, 2001. He will say they gave a non-existent Toronto address and drove a car with Ontario, Canada, license plates. They claimed to be computer engineers from Iran, and said they had just come down from Canada to find jobs.

January 2001-Summer 2001: 9/11 Hijackers Witnessed Preparing False IDs in Toronto Photocopy Shop with Al-Marabh

Many eyewitnesses see 9/11 hijackers Marwan Alshehhi and Mohamed Atta at a Toronto photocopy shop owned by Nabil al-Marabh’s uncle Ahmed Shehab, a prominent local imam. Some of the dozens of eyewitness accounts say Atta sporadically works in the shop. There is a large picture of bin Laden hanging in the store. Alshehhi and Atta are also seen by other eyewitnesses in a Toronto apartment building during this same time period (see January 2001-Summer 2001). [TORONTO SUN, 10/21/2001] In a series of raids after 9/11, many partially completed fake IDs will be found in the store and at al-Marabh’s apartment. A stack of tightly-controlled immigration forms enabling one to immigrate to Canada will also be found. [TORONTO SUN, 9/28/2001; TORONTO SUN, 10/5/2001; TORONTO SUN, 10/16/2001] According to the Toronto Sun, “Forensic officers said there are similarities in the paper stock, laminates, and ink seized from the downtown store and that which was used in identification left behind by the [9/11 hijackers].” [TORONTO SUN, 10/16/2001]

Shortly Before July 11, 2001: Canadian Officials Release Al-Marabh from Prison Despite His Links to Suspected Militants

On June 27, 2001, Nabil al-Marabh was arrested while trying to enter the US from Canada. He is already wanted in the US for skipping bail on an attempted murder charge, and US intelligence has linked him to al-Qaeda (see June 27, 2001-July 11, 2001). He is held in Canada. About two weeks after his arrest, there is a court hearing to determine if he should be released. His lawyer argues that he should be released because his uncle, Ahmed Shehab, can keep him in line. The lawyer does not mention that Shehab works at a school headed by Mahmoud Jaballah. Canadian intelligence has been closely monitoring Jaballah since 1996 and has overheard him communicating with many top militant leaders, including al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri (see May 11, 1996-August 2001 and February 1998). Presumably Canadian intelligence is well aware of Jaballah’s job at the school discussed in the hearing, yet this is never mentioned to the judge. Jaballah had been arrested in 1999 for suspected ties to Islamic militants and then released, and his school job had been mentioned in media reports. In August 2001, he will be arrested again, and Shebab will replace him as principal at the school. [GLOBE AND MAIL, 11/4/1999; NEW YORK TIMES, 10/14/2001; TORONTO STAR, 7/17/2004] While in jail, al-Marabh is visited by Hassan Almrei, who had been his roommate earlier in the year (see October 19, 2001). [MACLEAN'S, 12/10/2001] Almrei will also later testify that in 1995 he obtained a false passport for al-Marabh, and that after al-Marabh’s arrest in June 2001, al-Marabh asked him to obtain a second false passport for him. [CANADIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE SERVICE, 2/22/2008 ] Canadian authorities were investigating Almrei since at least September 2000, and may have suspected his role in a plot against the Toronto airport by this time (see January 2001-Summer 2001). But authorities either do not notice al-Marabh’s links to Jaballah and/or Almrei or do not care, because he is released on bail on July 11 and immediately disappears.

by Tom Godfrey The Toronto Sun October 21, 2001

The RCMP say some suspected Osama bin Laden sympathizers have fled the Toronto area as 2,000 officers and local police intensify their manhunt for al-Qaida members.

And the Mounties are probing dozens of tips that al-Qaida ringleader Mohamed Atta spent time in Toronto and was seen several times at downtown's Best Copy shop.

An RCMP task force called Project O-Canada has placed 10-12 al-Qaida suspects under surveillance in the Toronto area. The squad has been ordered to disrupt any terror network activity here, determine any role in the Sept. 11 attacks and catch any living accomplices.

The Mounties said some suspects have fled Canada or gone underground after their names were found on phone and financial logs seized from the copy shop and the Jameson Ave. apartment of refugee claimant Nabil Al-Marabh.

The Mounties said those who bolted arrived in Canada as foreign students and refugee claimants.

Their names have been added to an Interpol database

Police believe three suspected terrorists nabbed in Alberta last week were on the run when arrested in Fort McMurray.

U.S. police have also issued a warrant for Zakariya Essabar, 24, who used to share an apartment with Atta in Germany.

He and two other others, who were frequent visitors of Atta, have disappeared.

Meanwhile, residents and businessmen near the Charles St. W. shop said suicide pilot Atta was among some of the suspected terrorists who worked sporadically at the store.

Residents said there was a prayer room that could seat about a dozen people, and several photocopy machines in the basement of the shop.

"There were people going and coming from that place all the time," said one of three residents who was interviewed by the RCMP.

"I am 110% sure I saw Atta in the store more than once."

Atta is accused of planning the Sept. 11 attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. He hijacked the first jet that flew into the World Trade Center. Atta, the accused al-Qaida U.S cell leader, travelled across that country meeting with operatives.

He also made trips to Afghanistan, Spain, Germany and the Czech Republic.

Residents told the RCMP there was a large picture of bin Laden inside the store and Al-Marabh was frequently behind the counter.

Al-Marabh, 35, who was nabbed trying to sneak into the U.S. in the back of a truck, was arrested in Chicago for his alleged role in the attacks. Police have accused him of funnelling cash and fake documents to al-Qaida terrorists in the U.S.

RCMP Const. Michele Paradis refused to discuss the ongoing probe.

Mohamed is allegedly seen in Toronto with Nabil al-Marabh. a Boston cab driver, whose uncle supposedly owns an apartment at 130 Jameson Avenue and Best Copy Printing on Charles Street West.

CIA Officer's Curious Report - In 2010, Rolf Mowatt-Larssen will write a public report for the Harvard Kennedy School entitled, “Al Qaeda Weapons of Mass Destruction Threat: Hype or Reality?” Mowatt-Larssen was a CIA official from 1982 to 2005, and was head of the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center (CTC) for a time. Around the time of 9/11, he was the head of the CTC’s weapons of mass destruction branch (see 1982, Early October-December 2001, and November 2005). In a timeline in Mowatt-Larssen’s report, there is this entry for Summer 2001: “Detention of Abderraouf Yousef Jdey, a biology major with possible interest in biological and nuclear weapons, who traveled with Zacharias Moussaoui from Canada into the United States. Moussaoui is detained with crop duster manuals in his possession; Jdey had biology textbooks. Earlier, they attended McMaster University in Canada, along with Adnan Shukrijumah.” This entry is very curious, because although the report is said to be based entirely on publicly sourced material, there has been no public information about Jdey’s arrest or link with Moussaoui, and the footnotes to the entry do not mention these things either.

The al Qaeda linked Somali terrorist group Al Ittihad Al-Islam has been identified as being very active in the Greater Toronto Area, and has been operational in Ontario since the late 1990’s. The group has been implicated in smuggling Khat into Canada and the United States.

On December 30, 1995, Mohammad Zeki Mahjoub entered Canada as a refugee using a forged Saudi passport. For the first three weeks of his stay in Canada, Mahjoub stayed with the in-laws of Ahmed Khadr. Although he initially told CSIS that he didn't know Khadr, he later explained that "everyone knows Khadr." His refugee status was granted on October 24, 1996. Around this time, he received a number of phone calls from Vancouver, BC resident Essam Marzouk. He would later deny having contact with Marzouk.

- Two months after 9/11, the Toronto Sun will report, “[Canadian] and US police probing [Nabil] al-Marabh have learned he had a flurry of phone calls and financial transactions with [Mohamed] Atta and [Marwan] Alshehhi days before the attacks.” [TORONTO SUN, 10/16/2001] Additionally, Canadian authorities will claim that in the days before 9/11, al-Marabh sends money through a Toronto bank account to at least three men who will later be arrested in the US for supporting roles in the 9/11 attacks. The names of the three men have not been released. At least $15,000 is sent to the men in the days before 9/11. A source close to the investigation will say, “There are several links between this man and others in the US. There was money going back and forth.” Thousands more will be withdrawn from suspicious accounts in the days after 9/11. [TORONTO SUN, 10/4/2001; TORONTO SUN, 10/5/2001] US intelligence also intercepts al-Marabh’s associates making post-9/11 phone calls praising the attacks.