Global terrorism has a specific purpose, particularly when it targets the Western world where there is often coexistence between people of various ethnic backgrounds. Terrorists of the calibre of Al Qaeda and ISIS are aware of this, and they see that as a vulnerability of Western societies. When dozens were killed in Paris, ISIS did not expect to conquer France, but it aimed to create suspicion among the large Muslim population of France and the mainstream French community. The daily media coverage of terror, the interactions of people on social media and the vast ignorance of Islam create a poisonous environment that terrorists love to exploit.
It was this backdrop of fear that caused public panic when an online medium received a leaked internal police memo depicting three people as scouting out a local mall. The memo said police were interested in finding three Middle-Eastern-looking people who had apparently carried out surveillance at the popular Pacific Centre Mall and taken photos of exits and entries along with 360-degree panoramic shots. The memo said that these three had spent quite a bit of time at the Dunsmuir exit. These were loaded words, playing up the most stereotypical fears concealed within society. What this implied was that these men were likely terrorists and they were potentially figuring out how to come in, kill and then figure out which way to make a getaway.
Almost immediately, mainstream media were left in a predicament because a small-time website had carried what looked like a major terrorism scoop. As they scrambled to follow-up the story, many used the same photos that had been leaked. No attempt was made to cover the faces of the three, or to blur the images – just in case they were completely innocent. Normally, mainstream media are reluctant to carry such pictures for ethical reasons.
We’ve all seen CCTV images, often of bank robbery suspects or people perpetrating crime in apartment lobbies or elsewhere. These pictures leave an impression in our minds that only real crooks get photographed. But today cameras are everywhere. In malls and in public places such as SkyTrain stations and even hotel lobbies and stores. Thousands of photos of innocent people are taken everywhere from gas stations to bank machines.
Police Chief Adam Palmer turned up personally to address the issue of three suspicious men taking pictures of Pacific Centre Mall – ostensibly for a terrorist attack. He nonchalantly declared that what was leaked was an internal police information bulletin meant for the eyes of law enforcement and it’d be tough to track down which cop leaked it. Great. The big question is: How is it that police are not able to safeguard secret internal documents and allow the leak of a highly sensitive memo that could have easily engendered the three people? And what about the term Middle-Eastern-looking? It’s just one of the descriptions police routinely use to describe people, he said.
“Around 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, January 12th, police received information that three suspicious men, described as looking Middle Eastern, were seen inside Pacific Centre Mall taking numerous photographs, including photos of the entrances and exits,” said Palmer.
“There is no information to believe that these men have committed a crime. Nor do we have information to believe that the public is currently at risk,” he added. At the same time, he announced the police were assembling a task force to track the trio down.
Middle Eastern looking men; taking pictures of entrances and exits at a popular mall – that alone was enough to create a buzz around Vancouver that something terrible was imminent. The original story had been shared more than 66,000 times and social media and text messages were buzzing about an imminent terrorist attack. The paranoia train was running amok as people whipped themselves into a fear.
For those of us who are veteran terrorism investigators the smell of a fake alarm was all over this story and I began sending tweets to VPD on Twitter questioning their wisdom and questioning their fear-mongering.
In a series of tweets, I told police they were being silly and all they had was “suspected Muslims.” In another tweet I said: “You’re creating public paranoia for no reason. Stooping too low VPD.”
I was looking at the pictures of the trio of people standing in the middle of the mall, and one man was pointing a cell phone camera. These folks did not look Middle-Eastern to me; and their photography made no attempt to avoid security cameras. It just didn’t add up to being an unfolding terrorism event. I realized at once that an entry and an exit is really just a door! When people enter it’s an entry, when they leave, it’s an exit. The press release, the leak, the Chief at the press conference – that added to the fear the public had.
I received a text-message from a relative: “So a terrorist attack is imminent.”
“Calm down, there is no terrorist attack,” I wrote back.
VPD did not respond to my tweets. I had not expected them to. They generally don’t get into a debate online. But the victim of this racial profiling incident was also reading my tweets. I had no idea he was reading what I was posting until I received a message from a man who was not someone I had known before.
“I am one of the 3 men,” said the public Twitter message. “The other two are visually impaired hence the photography. Thank you for being logical.”
I responded saying I had no doubt about his innocence and subsequently he sent me a private message. We arranged to meet at Oak and West King Edward at around 10.30 p.m. on the night of January 15.
Mohammed Sharaz, a man with a three-inch beard, his 14-year-old son Salahuddin, and friend Mohammed Haroon Kareem, who wore a closely cropped beard, were standing next to my car as I sat waiting for them. I rolled down the window and greeted them. The parking lot at Safeway was nearly empty at that time. I asked them to get into the car but they were reluctant, explaining later that they’d lived in fear since their pictures appeared publicly and didn’t know if some vigilante would shoot them and or try to capture them. So I came out of my car and accompanied them into Safeway. We spoke for a few minutes and soon they began to feel at ease and we went to their nearby rental accommodation.
Mohammed Sharaz explained that his son suffers from Retinitis Pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease in which the retina of the eye becomes pigmented, ultimately narrowing the vision of the affected person to a narrow tunnel with the absence of peripheral vision. Medical science has no known cure for this and the chances that his son would go blind forced him to search for non-traditional medicine. During his search on the Internet he found a Chinese doctor in Vancouver who claims to be able to make a difference. So they first came here in August, father and son. Sharaz said there is a noticeable difference in his son’s ability to see. On his next trip he came with his son and a friend, Mohammed Kareem, who suffers from severe near sightedness and can’t read large letters just five feet away.
When the two were not in treatment with acupuncture and herbals medicines, the trio roamed around the city using SkyTrain. On that day when they were spotted on surveillance cameras at the mall, they had disembarked and walked in.
“My son and my friend take pictures of everything,” Sharaz explained. “They take pictures with their cell phone so they can zoom in and later view where they had been and to show their friends at home.”
Sharaz, who was born in England, speaks with a distinctive English accent and so does his son. They are both British citizens. Mohammed Kareem was born in Pakistan but is a citizen of the U.K. Sharaz owns three pizza joints in Manchester while Kareem runs a furniture manufacturing and sales outfit.
It was by accident that they found out Vancouver Police thought they were up to no good. On the second morning after the publication of the story and photos by the online publication, Sharaz wondered whether their home city of Manchester was larger than Vancouver. He typed in ‘Vancouver’ on google search and the first item that came up was news that police were searching for them and to his horror he also saw the pictures of himself and his friend and his teenaged son.
Fear set in, said Sharaz. What if they were outside and someone mistook them for terrorists wanted by police. What if someone grabbed them and wanted to become a Canadian hero. His young son was petrified, asking his father to close the drapes in case someone saw them. He was also afraid that if accosted by police his son would not understand their commands since he’s also hard of hearing and has a cochlear implant. “What if he misunderstood and did something like not raise his hands?”
They fearfully walked to the medical centre near their rental laneway home. This is where they were receiving treatment for several hours per day. There, they asked a woman to call police for them.
It wasn’t exactly like that movie “My name is Khan and I’m not a terrorist” but something similar. Two cops showed up. They talked. A few minutes later the cops went away but came to their home and picked them up, searched them and took them in for questioning.
A short time later, it was all over. The police made a statement that their photography at the mall was for a “logical reason” and the public had nothing to fear. But the cops failed to state the “logical reason” the men were taking pictures leaving social media folks to continue to speculate about their motive. They kept asking; why did they come here for treatment? The short answer was that a desperate father was trying to prevent his son going blind.
“My son is only 14. This could hound him for his whole life,” said Sharaz during the 15 or so hours that I spent with them over the next few days. “The photos will be on the Internet forever.”
“I am not concerned with what the cops did but I’m very concerned that this online publication used our pictures without obscuring our faces,” said Sharaz. “What if someone hasn’t read the whole story and someone attacks us.”
By 11 p.m. on the night I first me them, I had been contact by CBC and I immediately put Sharaz on to a reporter so they could clarify the situation. The next day a horde or reporters from Global, CTV, CBC, Province, Zee TV and Aaj showed up and Sharaz began to breathe a little easier. At least the public now knew they’d done nothing wrong. Every reporter who interviewed them left feeling badly for them and all of them said sorry to them as visitors who had been treated so badly in our country which we claim is a model of tolerance.
After that the VPD went out of their way to make things better for the visitors.
Two officers from crime intelligence who’d first interviewed them took them on a tour of the city, buying them lunch and then heading out to a 3-D show, Stanley Park and back to the Pacific centre Mall! The next day they had breakfast with Mayor Gregor Robertson who apologized for the mistake. The police chief also met with them and said sorry.
“The Chief said to me he’s never met a man with such a positive attitude,” said Sharaz. “He asked about terrorism, and I said look, one of your cops was bad – he leaked information; but that doesn’t mean I’m going to say all of you are bad.”
And Sharaz also told the chief that while police were forming the team to hunt them down, Sharaz, Kareem and Salahuddin were outside the Cambie Street police station admiring police cars for about a half hour. That caused a roar of laughter. Yes, sometimes the answer is right under your nose!
And residents breathed a sigh of relief with an outpouring of sympathy and support coming from many organizations and members of the public. Aaj Magazine hosted dinner for them, twice. And publisher Suki Pangalia and public relations specialist Neelu Garcha even bought a camcorder for the youngster as a gift. Ken Herar, of Cycling for diversity, came to present T-shirts. Their Chinese-Canadian doctor took them to dinner and offers poured in from people who felt sorry for what had happened.
One wealthy city executive texted me and offered to have them at dinner at his place with his wife and children and a ride in their boat to see the harbor. Sharaz and his son and friend were now feeling much better.
VPD then drove them to the airport when it came time to say goodbye to the city that had caused them such torment. They were also given a letter from the chief that cleared them of any wrongdoing and they thought their troubles were over.

MORE TROUBLE AT HOME

Their arrival at Heathrow airport near London was uneventful. But when they took their second flight to their home in Manchester three cops were waiting for them at the gate and told them they had been selected for a “random” check.
“They questioned us for three hours brother,” said Sharaz. “They searched everything, every piece of paper, everything in our bags and even wanted our cell phones. We told them we had a letter from Vancouver police chief and we showed it to them.
“They said their only information was what they had read in the media. So they asked us all sorts of questions. Why did we go to Canada for medical treatment? What did we think about terrorism? What mosque do we go to, what’s the name of the Imam at the mosque – I said I go to pray every Friday and I only know the Imam’s first name? I asked them how long they’d be with my cell phone and they said another hour so I said keep it.”
The next day police returned their cell phones. Apparently human rights have also gone out of the window in the UK as the fear of terrorism brings with it unprecedented police power of detention without a warrant and a search without a warrant.
The whole unfortunate incident could have been avoided if mall security was doing its job. It appears the tourists were in the mall for some time, taking pictures, visiting stores. If mall security people were wide-awake they’d have approached them and asked for an explanation. And it would have ended there. Instead, photos were handed over to the police who felt compelled to investigate. And then strangely, the photos were leaked by a cop. That was the part that hurts Mohammed Sharaz – how long will his son’s photos be online and how much trouble will they have traveling in the future? No one knows.

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