In 1993, Kalifa traveled to Damascus to study Islamic scholarship, but was arrested by Yemeni authorities five years later for failing to have any identification papers.
After his four months of government-sponsored housing expired, he was homeless and lived on the streets for approximately a year, before being offered a 6-month position as an Imam at a Moroccan mosque.
[1] Upon his arrival, on August 6, 2001, he introduced himself by his legitimate name to Customs officer Nathalie Hamel, requesting refugee status and stating that he had destroyed his false passport on the flight.
[1] She referred him to the Immigration officers on-site, to whom he introduced himself as Mohamed Ahmed Alhimede which they believed to be his proper name.
[1] Over the next three days he was processed, and intelligence officers became suspicious that he was in fact Kalifa, presenting him with a photograph which he denied was himself despite "a certain resemblance".