Niagara Link To Terror a 'Strange' Guy in Jail

Inmate wonders why no one has questioned him about man with suspected tie to Sept. 11 hijackings

by Karena Walter
The Standard (St. Catharines)
October 2, 2001

 

A Fonthill man who served jail time with Nabil Almarabh is wondering why authorities haven't bothered to question him or other inmates about the man suspected of having a connection to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"As soon as I saw his picture on TV, I thought, someone will come down here," Tim Cashman said Monday during an interview at the Niagara Detention Centre in Thorold. "Nobody's come."

Almarabh, a suspect on the FBI's terrorism watch list, spent two weeks at the jail this summer after being arrested for trying to enter the United States from Canada in the back of a tractor-trailer on June 27. He was released on $15,000 bail July 11 after an adjudicator at a detention review hearing ordered he live with his Toronto uncle. Almarabh did live at the Jameson Avenue apartment but failed to show up for a deportation hearing Aug. 3 and skipped a Sept. 13 court date in St. Catharines on RCMP charges of possessing a forged passport.

Cashman, 30, was shocked to see his former fellow inmate's photo in connection with the terrorist attacks, but remembers him as a "strange" guy. Even then, Almarabh told his fellow inmates the FBI was in contact with him. When they asked why, Cashman says his reply was always, "because I'm special."

Almarabh was housed with about 30 other men in his block, but only hung out with four or five. Deeply religious, he continued his daily Muslim rituals in jail, putting a sheet on the floor to kneel on while he prayed five times a day.

Cashman said Almarabh often got into heated arguments with other inmates about the teaching of the Bible versus the Koran. He invited them to a Toronto mosque to see for themselves what his religion was all about.

Religion seemed to be the topic of choice when he wasn't on the phone. Cashman said he was always on the phone, but the other inmates couldn't understand the Arabic language he was using and didn't know what he was talking about or with whom.

Cashman, a Fonthill man serving a 12-month sentence for driving under the influence in connection with a May 27, 1999 collision, said he can't understand why no one has contacted him for questioning.

He thinks some of the inmates may have information that seems irrelevant to them but may be helpful to investigators.

RCMP Constable Howard Adams said he doesn't know if Almarabh's former fellow inmates will be contacted.

He said investigators are looking at any kind of information they can find and are sorting through tips that have been phoned in to the Ottawa and Toronto-West detachments. "We're looking at all of that information and investigating all other tips," Adams said. "We're looking at information that's coming from all kinds of different sources."

More than 3,500 calls have been received by the RCMP's Ottawa tipline set up for information about possible terrorist activities.

The RCMP is looking at all items seized from four Toronto locations last Wednesday, including Almarabh's uncle's apartment and copy business. "It's going to take some time to go through them all and to analyse the information that they have," Adams said.

The RCMP raided the uncle's apartment exactly one week after a woman at the residence told The Standard she threw out Almarabh's belongings the day before because he had been gone for so long.

When asked why it took RCMP a week after the arrest to search the residence, Adams said police were gathering evidence and when it was determined they had sufficient information to go to the courts they did so for the search warrants.


Copyright 2001 St. Catharines Standard Group Inc.

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