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Politics : Homeland Security -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GC who wrote (46)	10/26/2001 12:56:14 AM
From: GC	Respond to of 827

Friday, October 26th 2001 Italians find man with Cdn passport in ship container, lay terror charges OTTAWA (CP) - Foreign Affairs Minister John Manley said Thursday Canada is talking with Italian authorities about the mystery of an Egyptian-born man found inside a ship container in an Italian port with a Canadian passport a computer, cameras and cellular phones. Rigk Amid Farid, 43, was arrested on international terrorism charges in what apparently is Italy's first use of a new anti-terrorism law. Farid, who police said had smuggled himself halfway around the world from Egypt to Italy, was arrested last week and the story is just now coming to light. Police, anti-terrorism investigators and prosecutors held a news conference in the southern Calabrian city of Palmi and described the case as puzzling. "He was in possession of documents and apparatus that no ordinary clandestine immigrant would have been able to afford," the Italian news agency AGI quoted Prosecutro Roberto Di Palma as saying. The ANSA news agency quoted Farid's lawyer as saying Farid had successfully completed an airplane motor mechanic's course several years ago in Canada. His lawyer said he is from Montreal and has Canadian citizenship. The Times of London reported Farid had airport security passes for Canada, Egypt and Thailand. He also had a return airline ticket for Montreal. Outside the Commons, Manley said he knew of no plot to use Canada as a terrorist staging area, as some reports have suggested. "We have no information to that effect at the present time. Obviously, because he had a Canadian document with him it's of great interest to us. We're in contact with Italian authorities but I don't know anything more that I can share with you at the present time." Solicitor General Lawrence MacAuley added that an investigation is underway into the incident. "I'm aware of it and the RCMP is aware of it and the RCMP is offering any assistance required to the Italian police," MacAuley said. First reports said Farid was on international police lists of suspects wanted for terrorism, but an Interpol official told The Associated Press in Rome that the suspect's name wasn't on any "wanted" list. Investigators at the news conference declined to describe the ship container's itinerary or how someone would have been able to survive inside one. The ANSA news agency quoted the suspect's lawyer, Michele Filippo Italiano, as saying he was unable to learn just what was seized from his client because all items were sealed and weren't even presented during a hearing to convalidate the arrest. Italiano said the case was big misunderstanding. He said Farid lives in Montreal and has Canadian citizenship. He apparently had a falling out with his brother-in-law in Cairo and feared that he would be prevented from leaving Egypt. Neither prosecutors, police or the lawyer could be immediately reached for comment. Farid was held under an Italian law, approved last week, which makes international terrorism a crime and makes it easier for investigators to use such instruments as wiretaps against suspects. Previously, only terrorism against an Italian target was a crime in the country.