A young Montreal man suspected of having gone to Syria and adhering to “extremist Islamist” ideologies was able to keep his firearms licence for years and to legally purchase semi-automatic rifles while he was the subject of a terrorism investigation by the RCMP, a La Presse investigation has found.

The case of Samy Nefkha Bahri raises numerous questions about the control of firearms in Canada and the communication between police forces.

The police believe that the man went to Syria to participate in terrorist activities in 2012. Nefkha Bahri said, rather, that he left Canada “because he was sick of the surveillance.”

“I was literally being recorded everywhere I went,” he said in an interview.

Before his departure, a judge authorized a search warrant for his parents’ home as well as a wiretap on the telephone line. To obtain authorization for the search warrant, the police had to demonstrate that they had serious reasons to believe that their target was involved in terrorism. It would still take two and a half years for authorities to revoke his right to own weapons in January 2015.

The Montrealer has not been charged with any terrorism offences. Last year, he was charged with intimidating a Crown prosecutor assigned to a terrorism case. A publication ban prevents reporting of any details in that case. He is awaiting trial.

He has attempted to contest the revocation of his firearms licence before the courts. It’s a question of principle because he feels that he has been treated unjustly, according to his lawyer Kaven Morasse. He maintains that he is non-violent, never intended to use his guns for malicious purposes and never encouraged or supported a terrorist group.

Nefkha Bahri appeared on the RCMP radar around 2012, according to several sources close to the case, who are not authorized to speak publicly. He was part of the same wave of departures that year as the young man who was photographed in December 2015 with Justin Trudeau.

At the time, his speech was judged to be radical and his marked interest for firearms caught the attention of the authorities. He obtained his firearms licence without any restrictions in January 2012, at the age of 23, according to judicial documents at the Montreal courthouse viewed by La Presse.

The next month, the young man legally purchased is first long gun: a Simonov SKS semi-automatic. He then began training with a group of friends at a firing range in the Montreal area.

“I had been intending to hunt for several years,” he said. “I never had the time to go because I had too many things going on at the same time.”

In June 2012, the RCMP conducted a search warrant at his parents’ home. Nefkha Bahri was arrested and questioned, but never charged. He retained his gun and his firearms permit.

The young man was also put under surveillance. He confirmed this himself. The police had to justify this intrusion into his private life by establishing serious reasons to believe he was linked to terrorism. But there were no steps taken to remove his guns. The firearms controller, a Sûreté du Québec inspector who manages gun licences in Quebec, wasn’t advised of the investigation.

A short while later, Nefkha Bahri left on a trip. It was a months-long trip during which he visited several countries, including Turkey.

“I was always interested in Turkey and the country was really calm,” he explained in the interview.

Did he visit Syria? Nefkha Bahri refused to answer the question.

A police source confirmed that terrorism investigators suspect he crossed the border into Syria, but authorities have not been able to prove it.

Upon his return to Canada, he was able to keep his rifle.

Several months later, the young man decided of his own volition to get rid of the weapon. He called 911 and asked to have Montreal police officers come to his parents’ home.

“It was months after having come back and it’s just that the gun was rusting,” he said.

“On Jan. 15, 2014, at 12:15 p.m., a 25-year-old citizen called us because he wanted to hand in his firearm. The police officers arrived and took possession of the long gun. There was nothing criminal about the matter,” said Sgt. Manuel Couture, a spokesperson with the Montreal police. The weapon was registered to the young man, who had a valid licence, police said.

Shortly after, he returned to purchase two long guns: another SKS semi-automatic; and a rifle of another model. Nefkha Bahri also requested that his gun licence be modified to include restricted weapons. This category includes handguns and some models of semi-automatic rifles.

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The firearms controller refused the request, even though there was no knowledge at the time of the RCMP’s terrorism investigation. Nefkha Bahri was still able to keep the permit he had obtained in 2011 as well as the two guns he had just purchased.

It took until January 2015 for the authorities to intervene. The firearms controller, provincial police Insp. Isabelle Boudreault, wrote personally to the young man to advise him that his gun licence was being revoked. The RCMP had just advised the provincial police force of their investigation into the man.

“According to information provided by police sources, it appears that you share the ideologies of extremist Islamist groups,” wrote Boudreault in a letter obtained by La Presse.

The next week, a new search warrant was executed at the home of Nefkha Bahri’s parents. His weapons were confiscated.

“As soon as we are made aware of information that could compromise public security, we intervened to revoke the licence. That’s what happened here,” said Lt. Martine Asselin, a spokesperson for the Quebec provincial police.

Why did it take two and a half years for the information about Nefkha Bahri to be transmitted to the provincial police when the RCMP said as early as 2012 that it had reason to believe that their subject was linked to terrorism?

The RCMP refused to provide an answer.

“The questions touch on investigations that are ongoing, so we cannot provide any information or comment,” said RCMP spokesperson Camille Habel.

“It’s only when there were the attacks between October 2014 and January 2015 that the RCMP started thinking of taking away my guns. In fact, it didn’t seem to bother the RCMP that I had guns back when they had an (undercover agent) hanging around me and proposing that I go to the firing range with him,” he said.

“They encouraged me to use them.”

The issue of information-sharing between police forces in the matter of the fight against terrorism has long been the subject of debate in Canada. Quebec has created a “structure of police management against terrorism” where officials from the RCMP, the Montreal police and the Sûreté du Québec exchange information on the subject. Officers from Montreal and the provincial force are also loaned to the RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Teams.

“The exchanges are much more between federal authorities. The firearms controller with the Sûreté du Québec doesn’t have “top secret” clearance to have access to all the information in a terrorism case,” explained Paul Laurier, a former provincial police anti-terrorism investigator who works now as a private security consultant.

Nefkha Bahri’s lawyer said that his client “like many other Muslims, is horrified and disgusted by the abuses committed by terrorist groups around the world.”

“Finally, Mr. Nefkha Bahri wishes to add that he loves his country and he believes that one of the most marvelous things that Canada has is the rule of law. It stipulates that an individual’s freedoms can only be limited for reasons that are reasonable and not discriminatory. He believes this is clearly not the case here,” Morasse said.

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