A Pakistani Canadian document-

forger Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally consists of the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific intent to defraud. Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be forbidden by law in some jurisdict ...

and immigrant-smuggler, Michael John Hamdani (also ''Amarjit Singh Sangha, Azam Shah, Ranjit Singh, Ahmad Malik'') rose to notoriety after he entered a

plea bargain A plea bargain, also known as a plea agreement or plea deal, is a legal arrangement in criminal law where the defendant agrees to plead guilty or no contest to a charge in exchange for concessions from the prosecutor. These concessions can include a ...

with authorities, and triggered a

manhunt Manhunt may refer to: Search processes * Manhunt (law enforcement), a search for a dangerous fugitive * Manhunt (military), a search for a high-value target by special operations forces or intelligence agencies Social organisations * Manhun ...

for five fictitious Middle Eastern terrorists he invented. Authorities were later chastised for crying wolf, and frightening the public with a terrorism alert from the information they had.

2002 terrorism hoax

Arrested in October 2002 with $600,000 worth of

forged Forging is a manufacturing process involving the shaping of metal using localized compression (physics), compressive forces. The blows are delivered with a hammer (often a power hammer) or a die (manufacturing), die. Forging is often classif ...

traveler's cheque A traveller's cheque is a medium of exchange that can be used in place of the currency of a country. Each cheque is denominated in a preprinted fixed, round, amount of one of a number of major world currencies; it has two panels for a signat ...

s, Hamdani later told prosecutors that Middle-Eastern men had approached him about acquiring documentation to allow them to travel from Pakistan, to England, to Canada, and finally entering the United States on December 24. He claimed to have been offered a large sum of money,

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

, "Fake-ID Arrest led to FBI Hunt", January 3, 2002 but denied that he had created the false passports. By December 29, the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

had alerted authorities across the country to be on the lookout, transmitting photographs, names and birthdates of five people provided by Hamdani. The names and ages were Abid Noraiz Ali, 25; Iftikhar Khozmai Ali, 21; Mustafa Khan Owasi, 33; Adil Pervez; 19; and Akbar Jamal, 28.

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

FBI issue US alert for missing Arab men
December 31, 2002 The following day, a woman reported having seen two of the men on a

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

three weeks earlier. The

Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices are located at Pos ...

stated that the men had arrived at

Pearson Airport Toronto Pearson International Airport is an international airport located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It is the main airport serving Toronto, its Greater Toronto Area, metropolitan area, and the surrounding region known as the Golden Hors ...

weeks earlier, and claimed refugee status.

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

Border patrol, NYV Police search for fugitive Arabs
December 31, 2002 Some media outlets began claiming the men had crossed the border in

Mohawk Territory The Mohawk, also known by their own name, (), are an Indigenous people of North America and the easternmost nation of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy (also known as the Five Nations or later the Six Nations). Mohawk are an Iroquoi ...

, leading to a complaint from natives that they were being unfairly blamed when no evidence supported the claim. On December 30, anti-terrorism police stormed six locations in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

and

Queens, New York Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

in connection with the investigation. Several days after the manhunt began, a

jeweler A bench jeweler is an artisan who uses a combination of skills to make and repair jewelry. Some of the more common skills that a bench jeweler might employ include antique restoration, silversmithing, goldsmithing, stone setting, engraving, ...

Lahore, Pakistan Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Punjab. It is the second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and 27th largest in the world, with a population of over 14 million. Lahore is one of Pakistan ...

named Mohammed Asghar came forward to state that one of the photographs was of him, and that he had no idea why it had been released with the name "Mustafa Khan Owasi", or associated with any investigation.

Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is an English-language Israeli broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Je ...

, "How dare some other fellow misuse my fake documents! ", January 14, 2003 Authorities then declined to release the other 14 names, due to the "dubious quality" of the information.

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

FBI: Illegal 5 Manhunt was False Alarm
January 7, 2003

Later arrests

Hamdani was arrested again in January 2008, along with his wife, son, daughter and son-in-law, for continuing to operate his forgery business while living in

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as The Royal City, it is roughly east of Kitchener, Ontario, Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Ontario Highway 6, ...

, avoiding police in Edmonton, Toronto and Vancouver.Wilkes, Jim.

Guelph Mercury The ''Guelph Mercury'' was an English language daily newspaper published in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. It published a mix of community, national and international news and is owned by the Torstar Corporation. The newspaper, in many incarnations, ...

Forgery suspects nabbed
, January 18, 2008Rosella, Louie.

Mississauga News ''The Mississauga News'' is a local news website in Mississauga, Ontario. ''The Mississauga News'' is part of Metroland Media Group, a subsidiary of Torstar. Originally founded as a newspaper in 1965, the ''News'' ceased publishing a physical ed ...

Father, son accused of running counterfeit operation
January 17, 2008

References

External links

The five photos Hamdani provided
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamdani, Michael John Living people 21st-century Canadian criminals Canadian male criminals Pakistani emigrants to Canada Naturalized citizens of Canada Forgers Canadian prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Canada Foreign nationals imprisoned in Canada Year of birth missing (living people)