Conservatives call on government to disclose how latest ISIS suspect came to Canada

Canadian Jewish groups said officials told them at a briefing following the arrest of Muhammad Shahzeb Khan that they were investigating a student visa.

The Conservatives have called on the government to explain how a 20-year-old Pakistani arrested in Quebec over an alleged ISIS plot targeting U.S. Jews was able to get into Canada.

Federal officials have declined to answer questions about the immigration status of Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, citing privacy laws, and said only that they are reviewing how he came to Canada.

The U.S. Department of Justice has described Khan as a “Pakistani citizen residing in Canada,” and Canadian Jewish groups said officials told them at a briefing they were investigating a student visa.

“We are looking into this,” said Aissa Diop, director of communications for Immigration Minister Marc Miller. “We will not comment further as there is an investigation.”

But deputy opposition leader Melissa Lantsman said if the Liberals do not “quickly disclose this key information,” the Tories “will be seeking to force them to do so, as we did with Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi.”

Eldidi and his son Mostafa were arrested in July as they were allegedly preparing an attack in Toronto for ISIS. Although the father is accused of appearing in a 2015 ISIS video, he was able to obtain refugee status and citizenship in Canada.

After Global News reported on the video, opposition parties called witnesses to testify before the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security about how Eldidi was able to immigrate from Egypt.

The arrest of another alleged ISIS supporter just over a month later, this time over a planned mass shooting at a Jewish centre in Brooklyn, N.Y., has raised more questions about security screening.