Container Bob

Last updated

Container Bob was the nickname given to Amir Farid Rizk who was found in a shipping container in Italy in October 2001, apparently attempting to travel from Egypt to Canada. [1]

His container was equipped with a bed, toilet, heater, food and water, a laptop, cell phones and a satellite phone. He was found when workers in the Italian port of Gioia Tauro heard strange noises coming from his container. The container ship had left Egypt five days earlier and was bound for Canada.[ citation needed ]

Forty-three-year-old Rizk was born in Egypt and had been a Canadian citizen for almost 20 years.[ citation needed ] He was carrying a valid Canadian passport that he had obtained in Cairo in August. [2] He also carried a confirmed airline ticket for travel from Rome to Montreal (where he had family [2] ), as well as an aircraft mechanic certificate and security passes for airports in Canada, Thailand and Egypt. [1] [3] According to Italian prosecutors he had studied in Egypt and North America to become an airline mechanic. [4]

Shortly after the events of September 11, 2001, Rizk's story raised fears of a terrorist connection. Rizk was arrested on terrorism charges and interviewed. He was released on 15 November 2001. [5]

According to his lawyer, he chose the container because he believed a hostile brother-in-law was attempting to prevent his departure from Egypt. [1]

Related Research Articles

The Japanese Red Army was a militant communist organization active from 1971 to 2001. It was designated a terrorist organization by Japan and the United States. The JRA was founded by Fusako Shigenobu and Tsuyoshi Okudaira in February 1971, and was most active in the 1970s and 1980s, operating mostly out of Lebanon with PFLP collaboration and funding from Muammar Gaddafi's Libya, as well as Syria and North Korea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Airport security</span> Measures to prevent crime at an airport

Airport security includes the techniques and methods used in an attempt to protect passengers, staff, aircraft, and airport property from malicious harm, crime, terrorism, and other threats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Airlines Flight 63 (2001)</span> Failed act of terrorism

On December 22, 2001, a failed shoe bombing attempt occurred aboard American Airlines Flight 63. The aircraft, a Boeing 767-300ER with 197 passengers and crew aboard, was flying from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France, to Miami International Airport in the U.S. state of Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ramzi Yousef</span> Pakistani terrorist convicted of 1993 World Trade Center bombing

Ramzi Ahmed Yousef born in Kuwait to Pakistani and Palestinian parents is a convicted terrorist who was one of the main perpetrators of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the bombing of Philippine Airlines Flight 434; he was also a co-conspirator in the Bojinka plot. In 1995, he was arrested by the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and U.S. Diplomatic Security Service at a guest house in Islamabad, Pakistan, while trying to set a bomb in a doll, then extradited to the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bojinka plot</span> Terrorist attack planned for January 1995

The Bojinka plot was a large-scale, three-phase terrorist attack planned by Ramzi Yousef and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed for January 1995. They planned to assassinate Pope John Paul II; blow up 11 airliners in flight from Asia to the United States, with the goal of killing approximately 4,000 passengers and shutting down air travel around the world; and crash a plane into the headquarters of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Fairfax County, Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Air India Flight 182</span> June 1985 aircraft bombing over the Atlantic Ocean near Ireland

Air India Flight 182 was a passenger flight operating on the Montreal–London–Delhi–Bombay route, that on 23 June 1985, disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean as a result of an explosion from a bomb planted by Canadian Sikh terrorists. It was operated using a Boeing 747-237B registered VT-EFO. The incident happened en route from Montreal to London at an altitude of 31,000 feet (9,400 m). The remnants of the aircraft fell into the sea approximately 190 kilometres off the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 people on board, including 268 Canadian citizens, 27 British citizens, and 24 Indian citizens. The bombing of Air India Flight 182 is the worst terrorist attack in Canadian history, the deadliest aviation incident in the history of Air India and was the world's deadliest act of aviation terrorism until the September 11 attacks in 2001. The mastermind behind the bombing was believed to be Inderjit Singh Reyat, a dual British-Canadian national, who pleaded guilty in 2003 and Talwinder Singh Parmar, a Canadian Sikh separatist leader, who was one of the key individuals associated with the militant group Babbar Khalsa.

Amro Badr Eldin Abou el-Maati is a Kuwaiti-Canadian alleged member of al-Qaeda. He is wanted for questioning by the FBI for having attended flight school and having discussed hijacking a Canadian plane to fly into American buildings. He has been referred to as "Canada's most wanted terrorist".

Canada 3000 Airlines Inc. was a Canadian discount charter airline offering domestic and international flights. It was the largest charter airline in the world at the time of its operation, with over 90 destinations worldwide, although it changed to scheduled service in 2000 after the Canadian Airlines and Air Canada merger. Canada 3000 competed with Air Canada, WestJet, and fellow charter airline Air Transat. In November 2001, the airline went out of business after a sharp decline in revenues following the September 11 attacks in the United States. There have been several attempts to restart the airline since then. The airline was headquartered in Etobicoke in the west-end of Toronto, Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Aviation</span>

Royal Aviation Incorporated was the parent of Canadian scheduled passenger and charter airline, Royal Airlines, which was based in Montreal Dorval Airport. The airline was acquired in 2001 by Canada 3000, which in turn went bankrupt in the months following the September 11 attacks.

Ahmad Abou El-Maati is a Canadian citizen who was arrested, tortured, and detained for two and a half years in Syrian and Egyptian prisons, as a result of deficient information sharing by Canadian law enforcement officials. The Canadian government apologized to Mr. El-maati in 2017, after reaching a monetary settlement with him and two other torture victims, putting an end to nearly 10 years of litigation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgina Rizk</span> Lebanese model

Georgina Rizk is a Lebanese model, socialite and beauty queen. She represented Lebanon at the Miss Universe 1971 and won making her the first Lebanese and Middle Eastern/West Asian woman to win that title. Prior to this, she was crowned Miss Lebanon 1970 and represented Lebanon at the Miss World competition but failed to place.

Mahmoud Es-Sayyid Jaballah is an Egyptian who has been detained in Canada without charge on a "security certificate" since August 2001 due to his association with members of al-Jihad. He has consistently asserted that he does not believe in violence, and just because he phones or visits people, does not mean that he shares their beliefs.

Founded in 2001, Project O Canada was a Toronto-based anti-terrorism investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Created in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks, subdivisions of the project named A-O Canada and C-O Canada were based in Ottawa and Montreal, RCMP Divisions A and C respectively. By December 2001, the RCMP was shifting its focus from gathering intelligence, to seeking information "in a manner suitable for court purposes".

Abousfian Abdelrazik or Abu Sufian Abd Al-Razziq is a Sudanese-born Canadian dual citizen.

An Egyptian resident of British Columbia, Essam Hafez Mohammed Marzouk arrived in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1993 as a refugee fleeing persecution in Pakistan. He was one of 14 people subjected to extraordinary rendition by the CIA prior to the 2001 declaration of a war on terror. Marzouk was the contact point for a bin Laden terrorist cell in Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2006 transatlantic aircraft plot</span> Foiled terrorist plot in the United Kingdom

The 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot was a terrorist plot to detonate liquid explosives, carried aboard airliners travelling from the United Kingdom to the United States and Canada, disguised as soft drinks. The plot was discovered by British Metropolitan police during an extensive surveillance operation. As a result of the plot, unprecedented security measures were initially implemented at airports. The measures were gradually relaxed during the following weeks, but passengers are still not allowed to carry liquid containers larger than 100 ml onto commercial aircraft in their hand luggage in the UK and most other countries, as of 2023.

<i>Achille Lauro</i> hijacking 1985 hijacking of an Italian cruise ship by the PLF

The Achille Lauro hijacking took place on 7 October 1985, when the Italian ocean liner MS Achille Lauro was hijacked by four men representing the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) off the coast of Egypt, as she was sailing from Alexandria to Ashdod, Israel. A 69-year-old Jewish American man in a wheelchair, Leon Klinghoffer, was murdered by the hijackers and thrown overboard. The hijacking sparked the "Sigonella Crisis".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metrojet Flight 9268</span> 2015 bombing of Russian aircraft above the northern Sinai in Egypt

Metrojet Flight 9268 was an international chartered passenger flight, operated by Russian airline Kogalymavia. On 31 October 2015, at 06:13 local time EST, the Airbus A321-231 operating the flight exploded above the northern Sinai Peninsula following its departure from Sharm El Sheikh International Airport, Egypt en route to Pulkovo Airport, Saint Petersburg, Russia. All 224 passengers and crew on board died. The cause of the crash was most likely an onboard explosive device as concluded by Russian investigators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Air Canada masked stowaway case</span> Hong Kong airport security breach

The Air Canada masked stowaway case, also known as the Case of the "Disguised Man" (“易容男”案发) in Chinese, began with a stowaway incident on October 29, 2010, when a young man of Chinese descent illegally boarded Air Canada Flight 018, flying from Hong Kong to Vancouver wearing a commercially available silicone head and neck mask to impersonate a white elderly man. He removed the mask in the aircraft lavatory later in the flight, and a passenger alerted the crew after a young Asian man tried to occupy the seat formerly occupied by what appeared to be an old white man. The crew questioned the man and then alerted authorities who took the man into custody after landing. He requested asylum in Canada, and was released on bond three months later. Because of privacy concerns the Canada Border Services Agency and the Immigration Ministry would not reveal the man's name. The incident was detailed in a confidential CBSA alert titled "Unbelievable Case Of Concealment" that was leaked to the American news network CNN who made it an international story on November 5. In Hong Kong, an organized crime probe was launched after this case embarrassed security services, and several people were arrested and convicted in conjunction with this and related cases.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Container Boy sparks terror fears". The Guardian. 29 October 2001.
  2. 1 2 "Stowaway case 'could lead' to more arrests in Italy". Toronto Star. 4 Nov 2001.
  3. Gillespie, Kerry (26 Oct 2001). "Stowaway carried maps of airports ; Montreal resident accused of having terrorist links". Toronto Star.
  4. "Italian Police Probe Man Found in Box". ABC News. 25 October 2001.
  5. Brean, Joseph (16 Nov 2001). "Canadian stowaway freed in Italy: On his way home". National Post.