@@ Mossad in Canada, posing as students @@
Arash
August 7, 2004
Israeli nationals linked with art scam
Two Israelis are being held by Canadian immigration authorities following
their arrest in Calgary for allegedly working in the country illegally,
apparently posing as Israeli art students selling so-called original work
door-to-door. The two were part of a group of 15 Israeli nationals who have
been questioned by Immigration and RCMP in the past 24 hours. The other 13
have been released, but their passports have been seized. All were allegedly
posing as art students.
http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=7ca0d028-33d8-43ff-b261-11ff0cb5d466
Calgary Herald
August 6, 2004
Israeli suspects face immigration hearing
Emma Poole
epo...@theherald.canwest.com
Suzanne Wilton
swi...@theherald.canwest.com
As many as 15 Israelis in Calgary are being linked to a door-to-door art
scam that has for years puzzled authorities on both sides of U.S.-Canada
border and raised the spectre of international espionage.
At least two of the foreigners were detained in Calgary and today will face
the Immigration and Refugee Board. The board will determine whether they
will be deported and banned from the country.
Guy Grinberg and Jacky Yakov Sr., believed to be in their 30s, are accused
of working illegally in Canada.
The two were picked up Wednesday at a southeast car rental agency. They were
allegedly peddling fake artwork at inflated prices.
Their arrest was followed by the roundup of more than a dozen other
Israelis, who were questioned by authorities and then released. Their
passports were seized.
This is the third time in a year immigration agents in Calgary have detained
Israelis posing as art students. Similar incidents have unfolded in
Saskatoon, Toronto and Ottawa during the same period.
But what exactly the supposed students are doing here remains a mystery, one
that has intrigued law enforcement and intelligence agencies across Canada
and the United States.
"I would assume that whether it's innocent or otherwise, it's the sort of
thing that security agencies in both countries would or should be at least
looking into," Canada's former top spy, Reid Morden, said Thursday from New
York.
Three years ago, the U.S. National Counterintelligence Executive warned
Americans about Israelis posing as art students who were targeting senior
U.S. officials at home, adding it's possible the groups were comprised of
non-Israelis posing as citizens of that country and connected to Islamic
fundamentalist organizations.
Media and Internet sources have speculated on the theory that the art
student guise is being used as a front for a sophisticated spy ring.
The Washington Post ran a story in 2002 citing a Drug Enforcement Agency
report that 120 young Israelis, posing as art students and selling paintings
door-to-door, had been arrested and deported from the U.S.
But no one has ever been able to determine whether the supposed students
were running a bogus art scam or a spy ring.
Regardless, their stories tugged at the heart strings of victims, who handed
over thousands of dollars for worthless works of art.
Tales of victimization and strife in Israel caught Calgarian Enrico Festa
"hook, line and sinker."
The Lion's Den Restaurant owner said a man first approached him about buying
a painting in August 2003.
Festa said the man told him he was an Israeli art student who had recently
fled the Middle East after a stint in the national military.
"He said they wanted to get away from all the violence and heartache in
Israel," said Festa, who eventually forked over $120 for a scenic ocean
portrait after being approached a second time. "It was well rehearsed, and
they have the ability to show emotion."
During the sales pitch, the student engaged Festa in a political debate
about the Middle East, he said.
Months later, when a pretty young woman, an art portfolio tucked under her
arm, came to his door once again with a similar story, he relented.
"It was a nice little pitch," he said, adding the woman told him she was
raising money to open an art gallery in downtown Calgary.
Jay Baydala didn't fall for the story.
"They introduced themselves to us as representatives of a school in Israel,"
said Baydala, whose office is down the street from the Lion's Den on Macleod
Trail.
"They needed (the money) to set up a gallery in Vancouver."
It wasn't until after Calgary police issued a warning about the door-to-door
art scam last week that Festa realized he'd been had.
He has turned over to immigration authorities the returned personal cheque
he used to pay for the art, which was made out to Moran Marilus and cashed.
Immigration officials, meantime, remain tight-lipped about the case.
"None of the information is in the public domain at this time and an
investigation is still continuing," said Richard Huntley, acting director
for Citizenship and Immigration Canada in Calgary.
Huntley refused to confirm whether agents with the Canadian Security and
Intelligence Service were involved.
With so many similar incidents occurring across the country, Morden, the
head of CSIS from 1987 to 1991, said Canada's spy agency should look into
the situation, if it hasn't already.
"They would be irresponsible if they didn't look at it, at least to reassure
themselves these people are who they say they are."
A CSIS spokeswoman would not confirm its agents interviewed the Israeli
citizens detained in Calgary. "We don't comment on any operational issues
whatsoever," said Kathryn Locke.
Members of Calgary's Jewish community were surprised to learn of the scam.
"The behaviour of any individual belonging to any group should never be seen
as a reflection on the group as a whole," said Nelson Halpern, president of
the Calgary Jewish Community Council.
http://www.canada.com/calgary/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=85961f1b-10e2-4529-bd43-91ed05f42dba