Two of the five Arab men being sought by the FBI after illegally entering the US from Canada were seen on a British Columbia ferry, carrying a large heavy box and taking numerous photographs of the docks.

Among the tips coming to the FBI since its public request for information is the compelling account by a nurse from B.C.’s Lower Mainland. The woman was interviewed yesterday by FBI agents after she reported seeing two of the five men, whose pictures were released by the bureau, aboard a ferry that sailed from the Vancouver Island ferry dock at Duke Point, 16 kilometres south of Nanaimo, to Tsawwassen, the large ferry terminal south of Vancouver.

The woman, who spoke to the National Post on condition her name not be published, said she was chilled when she saw the photograph of Iftikhar Khozmai Ali, 21, and Adil Pervez, 19, because she is sure they are the men she saw on her Dec. 10 trip.

She said Mr. Ali was sitting in the front forward lounge of the ferry, slumped in his seat with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. She was so startled by his cold stare she considered phoning authorities to report him.

“This fellow stood out in my mind and bothered me. I told my husband and others about him when I got home. But what could I do? Phone the police saying a man looked angry?” she said.

She said the ferry arrived an hour or more late.

After the ferry arrived, she said another man, whom she now believes was Mr. Pervez, was taking photographs of the facility with a digital camera he held at chest height. “He continued to take photographs of the entrance to the ferry terminal, the ticket area and baggage area and escalator. He photographed the entire area — and a tourist would just not want photos of that for souvenirs,” she said.

“It was pouring rain and I thought, Why is he photographing the entrance to the ferry? It was unnerving to watch. He must have taken, easily, two dozen photographs. He then, together with another fellow, lifted a fairly large container — about three feet by four feet — into a van.

“The box bothered me because of the way it was wrapped and also the unusual size. It was poorly and cheaply wrapped. It looked like it was cardboard and wrapped in wrinkled brown paper and duct tape. I just found it odd. It took two of them to get it into the van.”