Al-Marabh 'The Real Thing'

Suspect A Senior Al-Qaida Planner: Police

by Tom Godfrey
The Toronto Sun
January 13, 2002

 


Toronto Police believe Parkdale refugee claimant Nabil Al-Marabh was a senior al-Qaida planner and money man who may have played a direct role in the Sept. 11 attacks.

"He was the real thing," one senior officer said. "U.S. police dealt with him exclusively."

DOZENS OF LEADS

Senior Toronto officers said dozens of leads were obtained by an anti-terrorism task force tracking Al-Marabh's activities in the Toronto area before the police unit was shut down. The leads led to the execution of four search warrants and the detention of Hassan Almrei as an alleged national security threat.

Police suspect Al-Marabh held the same rank in al-Qaida as Mohamed Atta, who orchestrated the attacks and piloted the first jet into the World Trade Center.

"All the information on him (Al-Marabh) went directly to the FBI," said one of two senior officers, who spoke for the first time about their terrorism probe now that the task force is being dismantled, reportedly due to a lack of funds from Ottawa and the province.

Al-Marabh, 35, who lived at a Jameson Ave. apartment during some of his six years in Canada, was arrested in the U.S.

Toronto Supt. Ed Hoey said officers probing Sept. 11 were forced to conduct a different type of investigation than they're used to.

"It was a big learning curve for police," he said. "Our eyes are more wide open to terrorism than in September."

Hoey said al-Qaida suspects had quietly blended into certain Toronto communities, where they obtained menial work. Most were educated men without criminal records.

Police said al-Qaida supporters met in Toronto libraries and used computers there to communicate by e-mail.

Meanwhile, the RCMP and CSIS have ordered banks to freeze the funds of five Irish terrorist groups that have been placed on a watchlist with al-Qaida supporters.


Copyright 2002 Sun Media Corporation

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