A Pakistani man who was arrested in Quebec near the US border over an alleged terrorist plot earlier this month is said to have raised no red flags for immigration officials, according to records presented during a parliamentary inquiry on Thursday.
Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, a 20-year-old foreign student residing in Canada was arrested on September 6 in Ormstown, Quc. as he attempted to enter the US border with plans to carry out an Islamic State-inspired terrorist attack against Jews living in New York.
Khan’s arrest was on a U.S. extradition warrant, which led to him being charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
The F.B.I. later confirmed that Khan had told undercover officers that he intended to “slaughter” Jews in New York City on or around Oct. 7, marking the anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel.
Following his arrest, the Conservatives called on the Trudeau government to explain how a Pakistani man arrested over an alleged ISIS terror plot was allowed into Canada to begin with.
“Given what we’ve recently learned about one alleged ISIS terrorist being let into Canada, the Trudeau Government must be open and transparent with Canadians to answer how and when Muhammad Shahzeb Khan was able to gain entry to Canada and whether there were any early warning signs,” Conservative Deputy Leader Melissa Lantsman told True North earlier this month.
The parliamentary inquiry began on Thursday and saw government officials presenting a declassified chronology of Khan’s immigration file before the House of Commons national security committee.
The committee gathered to also discuss a separate case involving Ahmed Eldidi and his 26-year-old son Mostafa Eldidi were arrested by the RCMP and charged with conspiring to commit a terrorist attack on behalf of the Islamic State in July.
The two planned a terrorist attack in Toronto which was thwarted following a tip by French authorities, who warned the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service about the plot. Both had previously immigrated to Canada from Egypt.
“Your government has brought in a student visa holder from Pakistan who is alleged to be a terrorist,” Conservative MP Raquel Dancho said to Immigration Minister Marc Miller on Thursday,.
Miller said that despite these immigration processes now being under bureaucratic review, “we are confident in our security screening.”
The legislative committee voted in favour of exploring both these cases in public and at greater length, with plans to summon federal security and immigration officials to testify at upcoming hearings.
However, according to the declassified chronology documents, Khan’s initial security assessment “did not identify any risk indicators,” to federal immigration officials.
This led to Khan’s application not being “referred for comprehensive security screening by Canadian Security Intelligence Service and Canada Border Services Agency.”
Canada’s security agencies only began to regard him as an imminent threat recently after “the RCMP and CSIS received information about the subject’s alleged intent to carry out a terrorist attack in the U.S. As a result, a criminal national-security investigation was initiated,” the chronology reads.
Khan’s counterterrorism probe was still in its early phases at the time of his arrest.
“The subject was apprehended by Canadian law enforcement authorities while attempting to illegally cross southbound from Canada to the United States between the ports (i.e. not at an official border crossing point),” the documents reads.
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