A Canadian intelligence officer was the central figure in an international Islamic terror network, casting a dark shadow on the five eyes security coalition.
The Canadian government sought a sentence of 30 years imprisonment for one of its top security brass. Cameron Ortis was a director-ranked official with the National Intelligence Coordination Unit of RCMP—who in 2023 was found guilty of leaking classified top-secret information to members of an international Islamic terror network.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) are similar in nature to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States.
The state prosecutor, Judy Kliewer told an Ottawa courtroom that “His conduct betrayed the RCMP. It betrayed the Five Eyes alliance.” while seeking the prison sentence for Ortis.
As per the case documents, Ortis emerged as a central figure in the Altaf Khanani criminal network. Khanani, who is a Pakistani national, has been on the radar of the US agencies since at least 2008 for laundering illicit funds for organized crime groups and islamic terror outfits, including Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
In September 2014, the Five Eyes alliance—an intelligence sharing network made up of the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand—identified Khanani as a common threat amongst the group and decided to work together to take him down.
As a part of their investigation, the Canadian authorities, in which Ortis was a central figure, launched “Project Oryx” to investigate the agents of Khanani who were active in Canada. At least three businessmen were identified in this secret operation—Salim Henareh, Muhammad Ashraf and Farzam Mehdizadeh.
However, later details emerged that Ortis, who was arrested in September 2019 and accused by his own colleagues, for sharing operational information with the same people the Five Eyes were investigating and had tried to directly contact Khanani to sell this top secret information related to his investigation.
The Canadian government was forced to take a principled stand in this case. This is as the Ortis case and conduct are fast becoming a public knowledge. While global local media have already began to report on the sensitive court case, thereby erasing the possibility of removing the matter from the public eye.
The Ortis trial, and its outlandish revelations reveal a sinister plan to double cross the country and team he works for. Ortis’ convictions or lack therof have raised many questions on how the RCMP functions internally and how it interacts with its “Five Eyes” counterparts.
The case, has raised concerns to the credibility of surveillance of the five eyes coalition. This calls into question the data gathering and data protection methods of the members of this halo intelligence group as they gather and share information which is often used to level allegations against non-member countries.
In 2023, the US ambassador to Canada, David Cohen made claims that “shared intelligence among Five Eyes partners” had documented the alleged involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Nijjar, who was a designated terrorist under Indian law, was gunned down outside a gurdwara he led in Surrey, a suburb of Vancouver, in June 2023.
Neither the US government nor the Canadian government have released any formal information to substantiate claims of Nijjar killing as a direct instruction of Indian Government.
Indian officials, labelled Nijjar, as a “loud” and “divisive” Sikh figure.
In wake of the revelations that have emerged in the Ortis case, Indian officials, claim it is quite possible that “tampered” or “biased” evidence was generated and shared by Canadian officials with their partner members. Specifically in regards to the implication the India Government was involved in the Nijjar killing.
The fact that Canadian officials are heavily influenced by criminal networks, especially those with links to Pakistan’s deep state has been brought to light. Within the public domain are multiple reports from recent studies and investigation done by international agencies that countries such as Canada are infiltrated by Islamic terrorists.
In fact it is an open secret among Indian officials that at least 30 top ranking former Pakistani army officials are now settled in different parts of Canada and using their presence to influence the policies being drafted by Ottawa.
In a recently released report by the International Coalition Against Illicit Economies (ICAIE), a national security-centric NGO based in Washington DC, titled, “The Growing Harms of CrossBorder Illicit Trade Vectors and Threat Convergence to Canada’s National Security”, Canada has become a “safe haven” and international hub for notorious crime groups as illicit trade in the country is “booming”.
“Canada has become a safe haven for the world’s most notorious crime groups and threat networks that are harming Canada’s national security and imperilling the security of other nations,” the report warned.
According to its findings, “Canada remains a financial haven for kingpins, kleptocrats, oligarchs, and corrupt officials to reinvest stolen funds from their countries in real estate, energy, mining, and other sectors.”
Th claims are that tens of billions of dollars are being laundered through Canada annually from the proceeds of crime such as human trafficking, drug trafficking, and weapons trafficking, according to the authors. The report also states that multinational crime syndicates are increasingly setting up a presence in Canada.
“Canada has become a major global refuge for transnational crime networks and their dirty money, including the world’s most notorious networks and their leaders like Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán and the Sinaloa cartel, Chinese drug kingpin Tse Chi Lop, Hezbollah Financier Altaf Khanani, and other bad actors.”
Similarly, additional research finds that Canada’s government agency, Criminal Intelligence Service Canada (CISC), states that organized crime and money laundering have reached unprecedented levels during the second term of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who assumed office in November 2015. Criminal Intelligence Service Canada (CISC) coordinates and shares criminal intelligence amongst member police forces, regarding organized crime and gang violence in Canada.
According to data compiled by CISC, at least 3,000 criminal gangs currently operate in Canada. Out of those groups some are so powerful that they have been classified into three threat levels.
As per the data, 14 of these gangs have been classified as National Level Threat and the crime they commit includes infiltrating police and security agencies.
The failure of Canada to tackle gangs and organized criminals within its borders have brought not only a dark mark on five eyes surveillance but also escalating problems for law enforcement in other countries.
As gangs have established links in 52 other countries spanning across North America, Central America, Caribbean, Asia, South America, Europe, Africa and Australia.
In order to control and manage the international criminal gang networks, global laws are required. Laws with severe penalties for law-breakers. Laws that also allow for the sharing of evidence, and information across borders between various authorities. It is foolish to believe that only the five eyes surveillance network is immune to corruption or infiltration as witnessed by the Ortis debacle.
