Human smugglers trafficked in Canadian passports, posed security threat, RCMP records allege
An RCMP-led investigation uncovered videos of forged Canadian passports, visas and EU documents
A "sophisticated" human smuggling organization run from Montreal posed a threat to national security through its connections to an international network that trafficked in forged Canadian passports, according to allegations in RCMP files obtained by CBC News.
The smuggling organization developed an ability to subvert "all regular immigration and security protocols," and this created implications for "Canada's national security," concluded authorities in a report summarizing the investigation, called Project O-ctopus.
Cellphone data, including WhatsApp messages, documents, videos and photos, gathered during the investigation revealed details of a suspected "larger network … involved in the fabrication of counterfeit passports," according to the report.
The report said members of this network claimed to have access to "insiders at embassies." Investigators speculated that these insiders were "willing to issue visas for a fee to bypass regular airport travel and security protocols," said the document.
None of the allegations contained in the document have been proven in court.
The investigation began July 2022 and aimed to disrupt human smuggling groups operating throughout the Ontario border town of Cornwall and the neighbouring Haudenosaunee territory of Akwesasne, which spreads across the Canada-U.S. border about 120 kilometres west of Montreal.
The probe was led by the RCMP with support from the Ontario Provincial Police, Canada Border Services Agency, Akwesasne Mohawk Police and U.S. Border Patrol.
Wide-ranging investigation
Investigators obtained warrants to search cellphones and place tracking devices on vehicles while gathering intelligence from foreign nationals detained before and after they crossed the Canada-U.S. border. They wove each of these strands into an intricately detailed case against this purported human smuggling network.
The investigation also linked the organization to the deaths of nine people — including two families, one Indiana and one Romanian-Canadian — on the St. Lawrence River in March 2023 during a U.S.-bound human smuggling run.
Project O-ctopus culminated with raids on three homes in the Montreal area in June 2023, including the Pierrefonds-Roxboro residence of the alleged boss of the organization, Thesingarasan Rasiah. The RCMP found two Sri Lankan nationals in Rasiah's home, along with over $380,000 Cdn worth of cash in different currencies and three cellphones.
Information extracted from cellphones seized at Rasiah's home suggested the organization "had a much broader reach than originally anticipated," according to the RCMP summary of evidence report.
This larger network allegedly helped Rasiah to "transport individuals across multiple international borders with unimaginable efficiency," said the report.
Rasiah was charged in May 2024 with multiple human smuggling-related charges. He remains in custody awaiting trial. Rasiah's Ottawa lawyer James Harbic declined comment.
Rasiah faces no charges related to passport forgery.
Investigators with Project O-ctopus pulled videos and photos from cellphones found in Rasiah's home depicting two forged Canadian passports, a pile of forged blank Canadian temporary visitor visas and counterfeit visas from several European Union countries.
Police found videos and images on one cellphone from someone who identified himself in messages as "Faiz from Dubai" and used a phone number with a country code from the United Arab Emirates, according to the report summarizing the investigation and a separate RCMP analysis of the cellphone.
Forged documents 'incredibly impressive'
One of the videos, which runs for one minute and 39 seconds, is set to an electronic beat by Turkish DJ Kantik and shows a forged Canadian passport mimicking the main security features from the generation of Canadian travel documents issued between 2013 and early 2023.
Gloved hands bend and leaf through the document to show it matches the stiffness and thickness of the materials used in the real thing, according to the video, obtained by CBC News.
The video then shows the passport emulating security features triggered by ultra violet light
Finally, the passport is scanned over a cellphone that flashed identity information on the screen matching what's on the printed document, including the photo.
The federal government issued passports with electronic chips containing identity information for the first time in 2013.
CBC News showed this video to Kelly Sundberg, a former Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officer and now criminology professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary.
"I've handled tens of thousands of passports in my years. I've seen hundreds of fraudulent documents over my years and this is incredibly impressive," said Sundberg.
Project O-ctopus shared the identity information in the forged document with CBSA. The border authority said the document contained a real Canadian passport number, but it belonged to a different person — not the individual identified in the video, according to the Project O-ctopus report.
CBSA said the individual identified in the forged document entered Canada in October 2023 on a Nigerian passport, according to records. The photo on the Nigerian passport matched the photo used in the forged document.
Sundberg has long said Canada's passport system is the weak link in the country's national security chain. He has called for CBSA to take over the issuing of the travel document instead of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
He says Canada's passports should include biometric identifiers, like fingerprints and retinal scans, to protect them from sophisticated counterfeiters.
"You don't let someone at a kiosk in a mall take your photo. You have a sworn peace officer taking your photo, your fingerprints, using government equipment," he said. "We need to take document security seriously."
In an emailed statement, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, the federal department responsible for passports, said it could not speak to specific cases. The statement said security features added to new Canadian passports, unveiled in 2023, make the document "one of the most secure" in the world.
'Insiders' in embassies
But police suspected the network may have done more than just traffic in forged documents, according to the report.
A voice message extracted from one of the phones in Rasiah's home was sent by "Faiz from Dubai" also suggested this network could move people through Istanbul International Airport around gates that used passport scanners.
"We will check the gate, if that machine in the gate, we will try change the next day the flight. But if there's not any … machine, it can go easier," said the voice message.
One contact, who appeared to have helped move two Sri Lankan nationals through Nigeria on a journey with apparent stops in Dubai, Istanbul, Brazil, Panama and the Bahamas, claimed he was in the midst of helping 35 people get into Canada.
The contact, using the alias Kampeya Sederd and a phone number with a Gambian country code, said they had "visa approval insiders" in Canadian, U.S., French and Mexican embassies. The contact also said that for $1,000 they could provide "airport clearance" for Cuba.
Another contact used a WhatsApp profile with the alias "Shakeel Consultantt, Travel & Transportation." Investigators believed this contact was based in Dubai and appears to have helped arrange a flight from Dubai to Brazil for the two Sri Lankan nationals that were also aided by contact Kampeya Sederd.
At one point, "Consultantt" allegedly claimed they were "with Guinea-Bissau Ambassador." Investigators said this message, if true, suggested that the contact "has strong political ties."
Police also found what appeared to be a May 2023 message to Consultantt with the image of an EasyPay money transfer service receipt with Rasiah's name for $1.03 million AED (United Arab Emirates Dirham), which was equivalent to about $377,000 Cdn at the time, according to the investigative summary.
Sundberg said he understood why RCMP investigators concluded, based on the totality of these elements, that this suspected network created a national security concern.
"When we look at the notes from the officers that intercepted this, it's absolutely clear that they understand the urgency, the magnitude and the threat it poses," he said.
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