Another Reason To Screen Tenants

By Tom Cohen

Ahmed Ressam was well-dressed and looked like one of the many McGill University students descending on Montreal when he signed a year's lease for an apartment in August.

But the Algerian also had secrets.  He used an alias on the lease, one of at least three that helped him avoid close scrutiny by authorities until his arrest on charges of bringing bomb-making materials into the United States.

"Oh no, not this guy."  Andree Valiqueete, who runs the apartment building where Ressam lived in Montreal, recalled thinking when she heard of his arrest.  "We joked that if all our tenants were like him, we'd have no problems."

Ressam paid his rent on time.  In cash, and chatted pleasantly when doing so, she said.

No one has directly linked Ressam to any specific terrorist organization.  But his arrest December 14 in Port Angeles, Washington - with 30 ounces of nitroglycerin in his car - boosted speculation about terrorist attacks at millennium celebrations in the United States and promoted U.S. and Canadian officials to increase security.