The Ashdale Ave. Letter Bomber? It's Immigration, Stupid!

Adel Mohammed Arnaout, 37, an immigrant from Lebanon, sent three
individuals letter bombs this summer. Two failed to explode and the
third
caused minor injuries. The perpetrator came to the attention of the
police
and was apprehended with three more bombs in his trunk. In what must be
egregious overkill, the police closed no less than three Toronto
highways to
transport the suspected bombs to the Leslie Street Spit (an uninhabited
long
sand dune stretching into Lake Ontario) so that they could be exploded.

Police Spokesman Deputy Chief Tony Warr on CBC TV went to great length
to
say that the letter bomb sender was "not ideological." His motives were
personal. Yet, at least one of the three victims, Guelph contractor
John
Becker told the Globe and Mail he'd never heard of Arnaout.

Interestingly, Arnaout dwelt in a bizarre rooming house in Toronto's
East
End - home to 30 people and dubbed "the Bombay Bunker" by neighbours
worried
about the steel doors the guarded the entrance. (Guelph Mercury,
September
1, 2007)

The Toronto Star (September 1, 2007) elaborated: "Within hours, police
were
scouring the Ashdale Ave. bungalow, in the Coxwell Ave. and Gerrard St.
E.
area, which neighbours said was sometimes home to up to 30 people at a
time.
'That's definitely a strange house,' said Ashley Hinds, who lives
nearby.

'Most of the residents have a nickname for it, `Bombay Bunker.' It
wasn't
because of the families, it was because of the brick extensions and the
double steel doors in the front, the tiny peep windows with mesh
lining.
Everyone thought something unusual was always happening there, because
people came and went all the time. The illegal extensions were reported
to
authorities, but nothing was done.'

Neighbour Sue Hammond said the house, with two gaping open windows and
surrounded by construction debris, "was conspicuous because of the way
that
the front was built. 'When the doors are shut and the gates are shut,
it
looks like a fortress compared to the homes around it.'

Karrie Peterbaugh, another neighbour, said 'There were so many people
in and
out of that place, it was really hard to keep track.'

It was also difficult to keep track of the construction that always
seemed
to be going on, she added. 'It started out as a small little shack.
They
kept on adding and saying it was for family, and the next thing it was
a
rental unit.'

According to police sources, the investigation into the letter bombs
began
in June when Toronto resident Steven Scott complained to police of
being
repeatedly harassed by a man."

The Star story is interesting because it suggests that - gee, really?
-
the mysterious house was repeatedly given a pass by authorities who
really
had every legit reason to take a close look at the freakish place. Once
again, the pinnacle of multiculturalism backs off confrontation and
some nut
job nearly kills someone. Again.

Here's some of the press coverage. Note that neither the Guelph Mercury
story nor the Toronto Star mentions that the bomber is a Lebanese and
from
his name Mohammed, almost certainly a Moslem.

The CBC TV reports were even more santizied. The main thrust was the
traffic
jam caused the closing of the three highways and the police insistence
that
there was no "ideological" motive behind the letter bomber.

Viewers of the taxpayer-funded propaganda agency were not informed of
the
suspect's name nor his status as an immigrant.

Keep the peasants ignorant about yet another monument to Canada's
failed
immigration policies.

Paul Fromm
Director
CANADA FIRST IMMIGRATION REFORM COMMITTEE



Can-West News Aug 31 2007
TORONTO -- Improvised explosive devices have been located in a vehicle
in
Toronto. In the interests of public safety, the immediate area has been
cordoned off to people and vehicles. All businesses within the area
have
been closed.

The area is described as Overlea Boulevard & Millwood Drive, Overlea
Boulevard & Don Mills Road and the entire Thorncliffe Park Drive loop.

"We're going to transport the devices from here, down to the Leslie
Street
Spit, where we will be able to work with them and probably there will
have
to have a controlled explosion down there to get rid of the material,"
Deputy Chief Tony Warr told media.

"This is going to require that we shut down the southbound Parkway ...
We
will close any bridge that goes over the Parkway and there will be some
disruption to the traffic. And I would say, within a couple of hours,
we
will have them down to the Leslie Street Spit. After that occurs, then
there
will be some more examination of the car by the experts and once they
have
told us that the car is safe, we will then have the car towed away to
forensic sciences for examination. So we will be a few hours yet. But I
would estimate, within the next three hours, we will have this area
cleared."

Police work in that area may take several hours. Motorists and
pedestrians
are advised to avoid the area until further notice.

The late night arrest of man wanted in connection with letter bombs
that
were delivered to two Toronto homes and another in Guelph led to the
traffic
nightmares.

Adel Arnaut, 37, was arrested at a Thorncliffe Park gas station around
10
p.m. Thursday night. Arnaout, faces three counts of attempted murder,
three
counts of attempt to cause an explosion and one count of possession of
an
explosive material. Arnaout, a landed immigrant, was known to police
but
they would not say whether if he has any previous record.

He appeared in a Scarborough Court Friday morning as police were trying
to
transport a car related to the arrest downtown.





Guelph Mercury Sept 1 2007
A gutted red bungalow known by neighbours as the "Bombay Bunker" was
the
focus of an intensive search overnight by bomb squad investigators
probing a
string of attempted letter bombings in Toronto and Guelph.

Police, who have one man under arrest, are investigating the
manufacture of
at least six explosive devices -- three sent to recipients in Toronto
and
Guelph and three found in the trunk of a rental car stopped Thursday
night
at an Esso station in Don Mills.

"We don't have a motive at this point," Toronto police Constable Wendy
Drummond said. "We do know that the three victims . . . were not chosen
at
random."

Thursday night's dramatic takedown of the suspect, who police had been
following, came after the man began acting nervously at the gas
station.

"I went inside to pay for the gas, and there was a guy inside who was
asking
for jumper cables," said Jamal Watson, 23, who witnessed the takedown.

"He kept yelling 'Jumper cables! Do you have any jumper cables?' And
the man
at the cash wouldn't answer him."

Watson noticed two men following the suspect. "They were undercover
cops, I
think. So as soon as he stepped out, four guys were on top of him."

Yesterday Adel Mohamed Arnaout of 176 Ashdale Ave., was remanded to
Sept. 5
during an appearance in provincial court. Within hours, police were
scouring
the bungalow at 176 Ashdale Ave., which neighbours said was sometimes
home
to up to 30 people at a time and was called the 'Bombay Bunker' because
of
its double steel doors.

According to police sources, the investigation began in June when
Toronto
resident Steven Scott complained to police of being harassed by a man.

Police wouldn't go into the connections between the bomb recipients --
Toronto resident Abdelmagid Radi, Toronto real estate laywer Terrence
Reiber
and Guelph contractor John Becker -- but stressed they weren't chosen
at
random.





Toronto Star (September 1, 2007)

Letter bomb mystery deepens



A gutted red bungalow known by neighbours as the "Bombay Bunker" was
the
focus of an intensive police search overnight by bomb squad
investigators
probing a string of attempted letter bombings here and in Guelph.
Police, who have one man under arrest, are investigating the
manufacture of
at least six explosive devices - three sent to unwitting recipients
here and
in Guelph during the past several weeks, and three found in the trunk
of a
rental car stopped Thursday night at an Esso station at Overlea Blvd.
and
Thorncliffe Park Dr. in Don Mills.

"We don't have a motive at this point," Toronto police Const. Wendy
Drummond
said. "We do know that the three victims - the two in Toronto and the
one in
Guelph - were not chosen at random."

The discovery of the bombs in the car led to a day of high drama in a
city
unused to bomb threats. Officers, unable to safely disassemble the
devices,
decided to explode them on the remote Leslie St. Spit, and shut down
the Don
Valley Parkway's southbound lanes around noon for the convoy
transporting
the explosives.

As helicopters buzzed overhead, more than a dozen vehicles took 90
minutes
to make the journey through leafy residential streets, down the DVP and
along the Leslie St. Spit's rutted dirt tracks to an isolated point of
land
jutting out into Lake Ontario, where the three devices were exploded in
a
ball of black, yellow and white smoke.

Thursday night's dramatic high-risk takedown of the suspect, who police
had
been following, came after the man began acting nervously at the gas
station.

"I was pumping some gas and I went inside to pay for the gas, and there
was
a guy inside who was asking for jumper cables," said Jamal Watson, 23,
who
witnessed the takedown.

"I thought there was something wrong with his car, the way he was
acting -
he was nervous, you could just see it," Watson added. "He kept yelling
`Jumper cables! Do you have any jumper cables?' And the man at the cash
wouldn't answer him."

The suspect, Watson said, "was getting agitated, and he kept going in
and
out of the store, yelling to the shop owner."

That's when Watson noticed two men, who he now realizes were
plainclothes
police officers, following the suspect.

"Two guys who were behind him in line stepped outside, and were waiting
for
him to come out," Watson said. "They were undercover cops, I think. So
as
soon as he stepped out, four guys were on top of him.

"They handcuffed him and yelled at us `Police officers! Police! Just
get
out! Get out! Move out!'"

Not sure of what was happening, Watson heeded the orders, jumped into
his
car and drove off as police were handcuffing the suspect, who was being
held
face-down on the pavement.

Yesterday Adel Mohamed Arnaout of 176 Ashdale Ave.was remanded to Sept.
5
during a brief appearance in provincial court on Eglinton Ave. E.

Arnaout, handcuffed and wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, is charged
with
three counts of attempted murder, three counts of intending to cause an
explosion, one count of criminal harassment and one count of possession
of
explosive material.

Within hours, police were scouring the Ashdale Ave. bungalow, in the
Coxwell
Ave. and Gerrard St. E. area, which neighbours said was sometimes home
to up
to 30 people at a time.

"That's definitely a strange house," said Ashley Hinds, who lives
nearby.

"Most of the residents have a nickname for it, `Bombay Bunker.' It
wasn't
because of the families, it was because of the brick extensions and the
double steel doors in the front, the tiny peep windows with mesh
lining.

"Everyone thought something unusual was always happening there, because
people came and went all the time. The illegal extensions were reported
to
authorities, but nothing was done."

Neighbour Sue Hammond said the house, with two gaping open windows and
surrounded by construction debris, "was conspicuous because of the way
that
the front was built.

"When the doors are shut and the gates are shut, it looks like a
fortress
compared to the homes around it."

Karrie Peterbaugh, another neighbour, said "There were so many people
in and
out of that place, it was really hard to keep track.

It was also difficult to keep track of the construction that always
seemed
to be going on, she added. "It started out as a small little shack.
They
kept on adding and saying it was for family, and the next thing it was
a
rental unit."

According to police sources, the investigation into the letter bombs
began
in June when Toronto resident Steven Scott complained to police of
being
repeatedly harassed by a man.

The ensuing police investigation began drawing links between the
suspect and
a string of incidents involving letter bombs.

The first recipient, Abdelmagid Radi, who lives in the Victoria Park
and
Lawrence Ave. E. area, sustained minor injuries when he opened a letter
bomb
Aug. 11.

The second, real estate lawyer Terrence Reiber, called police Aug. 19
after
noticing a package smelling of a petroleum-type odour at his house in
the
Yonge St.-Sheppard Ave. area ; that device was later detonated by
police.

Both of the packages were bubble-wrapped envelopes, had properly
addressed
courier receipts and contained petroleum-type fluid.

While both packages bore the same courier label, they were not
delivered by
courier, Const. George Schuurman said. "So there's a belief that the
suspect
modified blank courier labels."

A third package, opened by Guelph resident John Becker Aug. 22,
contained a
bomb packed with nails and explosive materials, but the device did not
explode.




(Toronto Star, September 1, 2007) Other Canadian cases involving letter
bombs

July 15, 2002: Andrija Tramsek, a.k.a. Andy Davis, is found guilty of
sending two letter bombs in September 2000.

One of the bombs is detonated by RCMP explosives experts outside the
health
unit in Kelowna, B.C.

The other shoebox-sized bomb injures lawyer Keith Purvin-Good and his
wife
when it explodes in their car.

Nov. 7, 2000: Raymond Neal Best pleads guilty to mailing letter bombs
to an
Edmonton television station and Calgary's police chief in 1999.

An assignment editor and a reporter receive minor injuries when a
parcel
explodes in the A-Channel newsroom. An explosive device is sent through
the
mail to then Calgary police chief Christine Silverberg but is disabled
before it explodes.

March 1997: Warrants are executed for David Nathan Barbarash, a former
member of the Animal Liberation Front and former researcher for the
Toronto
Humane Society, and Darren Todd Thurston in connection with 24 parcels
mailed between May and December, 1995. Four were letter bombs and 20
were
booby-trapped with razor blades.

The targets included a Calgary animal researcher, Holocaust-denier
Ernst
Zundel, and the office of the Mackenzie Institute, a terrorism
think-tank.
Charges are stayed in 2000 when police decide to drop the case rather
than
disclose documents concerning another investigation.

December 1996: Wayne Greavette is killed by a package bomb delivered to
his
Puslinch Township home south of Guelph. The case remains unsolved.

Sept. 7, 1994: North Toronto Councillor Kay Gardner receives a mail
bomb at
her home that was designed to spray metal pellets upon opening.
Gardner's
husband opens the package, but the bomb does not go off.