Eldidi passed security screenings on road to citizenship

Article content

OTTAWA — Despite arriving less than an hour before the start of Wednesday’s national security committee meeting, official chronologies on Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi’s six-year journey toward Canadian citizenship show numerous opportunities for security officials to detect his alleged ISIS membership.

Article content

In the chronology, Eldidi — an Egyptian national who along with his son Mostafa Eldidi is accused of plotting a foiled terror attack — applied for a temporary resident (visitor) visa in December 2017, but was rejected after being branded a potential non-visitor. A subsequent application, with undisclosed additional information attached, was approved roughly a month later.

Initial security and biometric screenings identified no risk factors, so Eldidi’s application wasn’t forwarded to Canada Border Services Agency or Canadian Security Intelligence Service for a closer look. This was roughly two years after Eldidi allegedly participated in an ISIS torture video in June 2015.

One month later, Eldidi arrived at Toronto Pearson International Airport on Feb 5, 2018. That June, Eldidi claimed asylum, triggering another security assessment.

Article content

Article content

While a “risk indicator” was indeed addressed during an interview, details were not disclosed.

Eldidi’s successful refugee claim triggered a second security assessment that he also passed without issue.

The same “risk indicator” surfaced again upon Eldidi’s attempt to obtain a work permit in September 2018, but officials rubber-stamped the application anyway.

Eldidi applied for permanent resident status in April 2019, again with the undisclosed risk indicator listed on his file.

“Application referred to CSIS and CBSA for comprehensive security screening in (January 2021),” the chronology said.

Article content

“Security screening partners returned a favourable recommendation.”

Permanent resident status was granted in September 2021 with an application for citizenship following two years later. That again prompted a CSIS security screening, which Eldidi passed.

RECOMMENDED VIDEO

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Play Video

A final security check was triggered when Eldidi was granted citizenship in May — just one month before intelligence officials in France tipped off CSIS and two months before his arrest in a Richmond Hill hotel room.

Citizenship also came with a request for the RCMP to purge Eldidi’s biometric data from their systems.

During his testimony before the committee on Wednesday, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said that while CSIS became aware of the Eldidis in June, he personally wasn’t informed until a July 24 CSIS briefing with the RCMP — four days before the pair’s arrest.

“CSIS has been assessing the threat from these individuals based on recent intelligence,” he said.

“I was assured of, and briefed on, the close surveillance of the threat, including at the appropriate time by members of the RCMP who were positioned to act on any indicators of an escalating or imminent threat.”

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
X: @bryanpassifiume

Article content