Fourth person living in Canada illegally and identified by the federal government as a suspected war criminal has been arrested in the Greater Toronto Area.
Henry Pantoja Carbonel, originally from Peru, was arrested and taken into custody by the Canada Border Services Agency, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney told reporters Wednesday at a news conference in Ottawa.
CBSA spokeswoman said Pantoja Carbonel, 53, was arrested on Tuesday. Three others identified by the federal government have already been taken into custody since last week, when Ottawa released the names of 30 suspected war criminals it says entered the country illegally.
"Canada will not be a haven for those who have been involved in war crimes or crimes against humanity," Toews said. "With the help of citizens, the suspects are being located, and they will face the consequences."
Toews would not give additional information on the allegations against the latest arrestee, saying the government's focus is to remove individuals who have been determined to be inadmissible to Canada.
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews announced Sunday that Manuel De La Torre Herrera, from Peru, was arrested July 25 in Toronto and has been deported, the Winnipeg Free Press reported. Herrera and 29 other people were listed on the Canadian Border Services Agency Web site as being in the country illegally and were accused of war crimes.
The 30 men were listed on the Web site because “the CBSA has concluded they’ve reached the end of their usual investigative techniques in finding individuals and therefore it was seen as a mechanism to see if they could be located through other means,” Toews said.
Five of the 30 men on the list have been arrested in Canada since the list was created last week.
“It has been both a surprise and a pleasure to see the volume and rapidity of responses from concerned Canadians across the country,” Toews said.
Critics of the CBSA say the men shouldn’t be tied to war crimes without facing trials. Amnesty International said that the men should be tried in Canada, as it is not guaranteed that they will even stand trial in their home countries.
“Some say we are wrongly accusing these individuals of crimes before they have been tried and found guilty in a court of law. In fact, we are not here to pass legal judgment on whether or not these individuals committed crimes,” Toews said. “The purpose of this list is to remove individuals who are here illegally who are inadmissible by reason of implication in war crimes or crimes against humanity.
No comments:
Post a Comment