N.L. abduction case raises questions about how father could take daughter out of country

Bouchra Marbouhi was worried this would happen — that her estranged husband would take their five-year-old daughter out of the country.

So the 31-year-old Moroccan citizen got a court order that she now says gave her a "false sense of safety."

That order, issued in May by Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court's family division, states that neither parent can take the kindergartener from the St. John's metro area.

But it did not stop Ahmed ElGammal, 36, from leaving Canada with their little girl.

And it didn’t help get her back.

“We are concerned how he got out of the province, and we are unsure right now if there was a notarized letter or forged notarized letter presented to border security," said Olivia Lynch, executive director of Violence Prevention Avalon East, which is helping Marbouhi.

"And clearly there was no check done to see if there [were] any court orders against him.”

There is no legal requirement for children to carry a consent letter from both parents when travelling internationally.

However, the federal government recommends parents travelling alone have a letter — preferably signed by a notary — when entering and exiting the country, and warns that travelling without one "may result in delays or refusal to enter or exit a country."

In a statement to CBC News, Canada Border Services Agency said it doesn’t check passengers leaving the country for such an order.

"Canada’s outbound border control does not systematically require all exiting travellers to confirm their departure or to present to a CBSA officer for examination in the same way that they must when entering," a spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement.

"For this reason, the agency uses enforcement flags within its traveller processing systems to alert frontline officers to persons of interest who may attempt to leave Canada."

CBSA says an Amber Alert, used in child abductions, would have triggered an alert.

However, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary said this case did not meet the criteria for issuing an Amber Alert. It is not clear when ElGammal and his daughter arrived in Egypt.