re: #593 realwest

Ahmed Ressam, the Millennium Bomber

Ressam was born in Algeria. He entered Canada in 1994 with a forged French passport.[2] When immigration officials at the Montreal airport questioned him, he applied for political asylum, claiming persecution in Algeria. After settling in Montreal, he became a small-time criminal. At some point, he was recruited into al-Qaeda. After not attending his hearing for political asylum, his application for refugee status was denied and a warrant issued for his arrest. He evaded deportation by obtaining a passport using a false name, “Benni Noris.”

On December 14, 1999, Ressam boarded the M/V Coho at Vancouver Island and crossed the border at the Port Angeles, Washington ferry landing. Canadian agents had been watching him for more than two years in Montreal. When he disappeared, Mounties traced him to a motel room in British Columbia where they discovered materials that could be used in making bombs. The Mounties then tipped off US Customs officials of a potential bomb threat to them.

At the US-Canadian border, upon noticing that he appeared nervous, US Customs officers inspected him more closely and asked for further identification. Ressam panicked and attempted to flee. Customs officials then found a legitimate Canadian passport Ressam had registered under a fake name,[2]nitroglycerin and four timing devices concealed in a spare tire well of his rented car. He was arrested by customs, and investigated by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He had shared a room in Canada with Abdelmajid Dahoumane, a suspected terrorist. A suitcase in the room which they lived in tested positive for chemicals used for making bombs.

This is why Canadian border security is important. The fact that few Canadians are illegal immigrants taking US jobs is a red herring.