A Windsor, Ont. man labelled a “high-risk traveller” and charged with passport fraud will have a bail hearing on Friday.
Mohamed El Shaer was arrested on a bench warrant Wednesday, after he arrived in Toronto, for failing to show up for a scheduled court appearance.
The 26-year-old Palestinian-Canadian was charged with passport fraud in June after returning to Canada from Turkey.
The RCMP is not discussing the details of the case.
But in an email to Global News, RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Greg Cox confirmed El Shaer was arrested upon his arrival in Toronto last week.
“The RCMP executed an arrest warrant that had been issued following his failure to appear in court on previous charges related to passport fraud,” Cox said.
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El Shaer is now being represented by lawyer Patrick Ducharme, who also represented the man prior to his disappearance. According to the Windsor Star, Ducharme had quit the case because of “irreconcilable differences.”
Ducharme contacted Global News late Monday afternoon to say that his legal services had again been retained after El Shaer’s return to Canada, but he had not yet seen his client — at all.
Ducharme was out of town during the day on Monday and not at the courthouse in Windsor Monday morning. El Shaer reportedly appeared via video.
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The National Post reported RCMP initially arrested El Shaer on June 23 after he arrived in Canada from Turkey. At that time, he was accused of making a false statement on a Citizenship and Immigration Canada form while in Turkey last December “for the purpose of procuring a passport for himself.”
El Shaer is not facing any terror-related charges or offences under Canada’s Combating Terrorism Act, which makes it illegal to leave the country to take part in terrorism-related activities.
But he was among a list of five individuals the RCMP named as “high-risk travellers” who are facing passport fraud.
Another person on the list, a 26-year-old Pakistani-Canadian from Windsor who is reportedly in Syria now, posted a message on Twitter following the arrest.
Ahmad Waseem, who goes by @muthanna25 on Twitter, posted a tweet on Saturday saying the charges against his associate are “bogus.”
Waseem reportedly travelled to Syria but returned to Canada in the summer for medical treatment in Windsor.
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According to the National Post, he has since returned to Syria.
Although social media accounts associated with Waseem have been suspended in the past, messages posted to current and past Twitter accounts have mocked the fatal shooting of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo in Ottawa on Oct. 22 and encouraged potential jihadist recruits not to be hindered by law enforcement.
*CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story state Mohamed El Shaer appeared in court on Monday. He appeared via video.
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