Wanted -- In Canada

"What I can confirm for you is that we believe he did leave Canada and that he has travelled overseas and that he does not have a valid Canadian passport."
Inspector Lise Crouch, Ontario Integrated National Security Enforcement Team

"Once you get a fake passport or a forged document, it’s probably fairly easy to leave again, unless you’re under 24-hour surveillance, because it’s not like people at the airport are going to know what you look like"
I don’t think we’re watching a whole lot of people 24 hours a day."
"I think he [Waseem] became a little bit overwhelmed by the attention and didn’t feel like he was welcome here or didn’t feel like he could reintegrate very well."
"[Waseem] and his friend seem to be pretty good at getting fake passports. I’m not sure what it is about Windsor and fake passports."
Amarnath Amarasingam,  postdoctoral fellow, University of Waterloo, researching Canadian foreign fighters

"What do you want me to say… I guess we know who got the last laugh. Allah’s plan has beaten your fragile entire nation’s plan. May Allah guide you to the truth or destroy you."
Mohammed El Shaer, 'flight risk', now in Syria with Islamic State

Inspector Crouch speaks of Mohammed El Shaer, 37, from Windsor, Ontario. A Canadian Muslim whose name appears on the RCMP list of "high risk travellers". Who managed somehow and seemingly effortlessly, without a passport, and despite being on that watch list, to leave Canada to travel to Syria although he was on probation, under a court order not to travel abroad. Where he has been reunited with his jihadist friend Ahmad Waseem.

Mohamed El Shaer, left, and Ahmad Waseem of Windsor, Ont. are on an RCMP high-risk travellers list. Police confirm El Shaer left the country sometime in February. (Twitter)

The question is, why bother? Why would we want to retain someone like Mohammed El Shaer, who is so anxious to leave this country and take up residence in Syria to fight with Islamic State. What point is there in making the effort to halt his progress to martyrdom? Setting aside, to begin with, the ineffectiveness of the much-vaunted program of security agencies in the country to maintain that vigil and halt recruits to jihad from launching their journeys, as Ahmad Waseem did as well.

Why would we want to keep them in Canada to begin with? We have seen the outcome of removing passionate jahadis' passports to ensure they remain behind in Canada. And Canada has suffered hugely as a result. With the jihadists seeking alternate measures to display their martyrdom credentials, taking the lives of Canadian soldiers to achieve that goal.

Mr. El Shaer's friend, Ahmad Waseem, from Windsor as well, and a man wanted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for passport fraud himself, has posted El-Shaer's photo on Twitter: "Canadian Muslims guess which 'high risk traveller' made it into Sham?", he taunted. "So what's ur excuse." Mr. Waseem, it seems, is given to offering advice on how one may join the conflict in Syria. He supports the enslavement of non-Muslims.

Mr. El Shaer is of Palestinian extraction, calling himself a "marketing executive". He and Mr. Waseem, who characterizes Osama bin Laden as a "hero" on social media, had originally left Canada in November of 2013. "I enjoy seeing dead Americans", Mr. Waseem thoughtfully wrote as a memoriam to the beheading of U.S. journalist James Foley, in viewing the resulting video.

Mr. El Shaer had informed Canadian officials that his passport had been damaged when he had gone with Mr. El Shaer on a round trip ending up in Turkey. With false information given in Turkey he received an emergency travel document enabling him to return to Canada. Flying on from Turkey to Calgary he informed Canada Border Services Agency officers that his name appeared on a U.S. no-fly list.

Shortly thereafter he was arrested in Windsor on charges of passport-related fraud, then released on bail. Prohibited from leaving Ontario pending his trial, he managed nonetheless to migrate to Egypt and Sudan, was arrested when he reappeared in Canada at Pearson airport, and charged again, with breaching the conditions of his release.

His twelve months on probation was cut short by his absconding though he was banned from travelling outside Canada. And Inspector Crouch has no comment on the manner in which Mr. El Shaer was able to handily manoeuvre his international travel destination, other than to say he is now wanted for forgery and identity fraud.

Wanted? Why would we want this man in Canada?