Under Investigation

"We're looking for alternatives. We've been successful; CBSA [Canada Border Services Agency] and the Passport Bureau and the team have been successful in bringing charges against at least five individuals in respect of passport misuse a criminal charge So we're looking for options within the existing framework of authorities to be able to intervene in accordance with our laws."
RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson

"The information provided by Mahdere's parents was of particular concern to INSET [RCMP Integrated National Security Enforcement Team] as the RCMP are concerned about the possibility of people going overseas to attend the fighting in the Syrian civil conflict and either not returning to Canada because they have been killed or in the alternative, returning to Canada with violent belief systems."
Crown prosecutor at court, August 22

"For a country that is proudly marching its troops into war under banners of life, liberty and security, it's astounding that these virtues aren't being granted to some of their own citizens."
Ali Abubaker, 22, student, Calgary

The RCMP has laid charges of passport fraud against what they have named to be five "high-risk travellers", people from Canada suspected of having been radicalized into jihadist-supporting fanatical Islamism planning to use their Canadian passports as citizens of Canada to travel abroad to join other Islamists in Syria's conflict. One of them had posted "May Allah give victory to our brothers in ISIS" on his Facebook page.

Two of the five hail from Windsor, Ontario, the other three from Calgary. Three were detained as they were about to leave Canada with one-way flight reservations. A fourth had returned from the Middle East when he was arrested. They are among the 90 suspects that intelligence has under close scrutiny.
The five were identified as Ahmad Waseem, Mohamed El Shaer from Ontario, and Ali Abubaker, Naomi Mahdere and Hamza Omer from Alberta.

A photo of Martin Rouleau holding the Qur'an. He had changed his name on Facebook to Ahmad the Converted. (Facebook)

Police have stepped up their surveillance of suspects in the wake of two terrorist attacks taking place, one in Quebec the second in Ottawa, last week, which took the lives of two Canadian military personnel. One of whom, Martin Couture-Rouleau, self-radicalized to the concern of his parents who contacted police, had his passport removed, but went on to commit himself to jihad by shooting to death Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent  at a mall in Saint-Jean-sur-Richeleau.

Mr. El Shaer was charged in Windsor with making a false statement on a Citizenship and Immigration Canada questionnaire in Turkey. "I have no knowledge as to where he is I told the court there were irreconcilable differences, I was struggling to get instructions", said his lawyer. His client had failed to show up in court and a bench warrant for his arrest will be issued of he fails again to appear next Wednesday.

• Ahmad Waseem, of Windsor, Ont., flew twice to Syria to allegedly fight with Islamist extremists. He is wanted by RCMP on passport fraud charges, but legal experts say he could evade terrorism charges depending on how under-the-radar his activities abroad were. (Facebook)

Ahmed Waseem, 26, travelled to Syria but returned to Windsor after having been wounded in Syria. "I came to fight so that the word of Allah is highest", he wrote online, after he returned to Syria with the use of a false passport. The much-vaunted protocol of enlisting the persuasive assistance of the Muslim community, clerics from mosques and community centres such as the one Pakistani-Canadian Mr. Waseem used, and his family, to dissuade him from returning to Syria, failed.

In the case of Naomi Mahdere, Hamza Omer and Ali Abubaker, whose plans were to travel together to their destination of choice, Ms. Mahdere's parents contacted INSET once they became aware their daughter had made debit-card purchases at Passport Canada. They were concerned, they informed police, that their daughter and Mr. Abubaker "planned to go to Syria to fight in the war", according to court documents.

The three were accordingly arrested at Calgary airport and charged with passport fraud. Later Ms. Mahdere and Mr. Abubaker were charged as well with breaching the terms imposed by the court; terms that forbade them from communicating with one another. Their intention as a trio, they claimed, was simply to make a trip to Britain where Mr. Abubaker was considering studying medicine.

As for Ms. Mahdere, she claimed to have held no plans to take part in armed conflict. All three were fined. Ms. Mahdere's mother, Ruth Russom claimed she "never had any suspicions regarding their travel plans nor their religious beliefs, as we were very close and discussed matters openly, and often. I feel that I have been used by certain individuals as they had contacted me with this very same allegation [travelling to Syria] and I was later told to repeat them to the RCMP.

"I obliged only due to naivety, as I had trusted them due to their 'status' in government and had a misunderstanding of what they had intended on achieving." And so, it would appear, so much for the brilliant plan of depending on the concerned family members of jihadi-purposed young Canadians to help the security forces in persuading them to think better of their plans to join foreign conflicts, much less conspire to do harm within Canada.