Bust nets suspected terrorists across GTA Canada: Greater Toronto Area)

Toronto red-Star ^ | Jun. 2, 2006 | MICHELLE SHEPHARD AND STAN JOSEY

[GMMAC]

Bust nets suspected terrorists across GTA

Toronto red Star
Jun. 2, 2006. 11:56 PM

MICHELLE SHEPHARD AND STAN JOSEY
STAFF REPORTERS

Police from across the GTA, led by the RCMP's anti-terrorism task force, swooped down on as many as 12 locations Friday night to arrest members of what is being described as a homegrown terrorist cell. Police remained tight-lipped about the massive operation, but have scheduled a news conference for 10 a.m. Saturday.

RICK MADONIK/TORONTO STAR
This officer is one of numerous heavily-armed police standing guard in front of the Durham Regional Police station at Kingston and Brock roads in Pickering on Friday evening. A joint forces operation brought suspects there for processing.


RICK MADONIK/TORONTO STAR
A joint forces operation brings terrorism suspects for processing at the Durham Regional Police station at Kingston and Brock roads in Pickering on Friday evening.

Shortly after the first arrests the suspects were driven to a heavily-guarded Pickering police station.

The station, on Brock Rd. in Pickering, was surrounded by a heavy ring of police security. A long line of unmarked police cars with suspects sat inside the security perimeter. About every 15 minutes or so another car would be admitted to the station's underground parking garage, where suspects entered the station for processing.

Heavily-armed members of the Durham region tactical unit were stationed at one-metre intervals around the station. Dozens of plainclothes officers, and uniformed RCMP, Durham and Toronto police were involved in the processing.

According to the Star's sources, the Canadian spy service CSIS has been monitoring the group since 2004, and an RCMP criminal investigation was launched last year.

Police have not said why they acted Friday night, and would not say how well-organized the group is, or whether it is armed.

“It is very serious,” a source who asked not to be named told Canadian Press. "These people had plans.”

While the intended target is unclear, the plan was to detonate an explosive device in Ontario, the source said.

“That’s the tool of choice for anybody who wants to cause damage.”

For full coverage, including the background of the group and how it came to police attention, see the Saturday Star and come back to thestar.com for updates throughout the day.

With files from CP

[Grampa Dave]

Great job on posting these articles on the Canadian Islamofacist Terrorist Bust.

Our MSM will not be telling us much about this.

[gcruse]

"But I think you'll find that most Canadians, particularly outside of the big cities are pretty fond of the States."

Maybe, maybe not. My wife and I were landed immigrants when we drove to Lloydtown, a rural Canadian town, for some festival or other. We were well clear of our parked car when we overheard some Canadians walk past it, see the New Jersey plates, and sneer, "What are THEY doing here?"

Spending our money in your stores, Lum. But never again.

[AFPhys]

The only good terrorist is a dead terrorist. We should be killing more of them faster.

Bravo. I just love the inanity of people who make comments like "we're creating terrorists faster than we can kill them"... (Heard often in the City of Evil)

I simply remind them that we are capable of killing them much faster than we've indulged ourselves thus far, and that the terrorists ought not test our resolve too much.

We're not yet at the tipping point that people are willing to agree with me on this yet, but with every successful terrorist attack that point draws nearer.

[Dialup Llama]

Look at the pic cnn.com! The story says there was 3 TONS of explosives and the pic show some sort of electronic detonator. This looks like the real deal. The Canadians stopped a 911 which apparently was planned for 6-6-06.

[GMMAC]

"Maybe Cannuckistan will finally take a hint about the war on terror. Then again, maybe its too late."

"finally take a hint about the war on terror" ???

You figuring it was 'dumb luck' we caught these vermin ???

[caveat emptor]

Lets hope he is as sneaky as a snake, as bold as an Eagle, and courageous as a Lion..

He's off to a good start, IMO, but I doubt that he'll meet those requirements. Or anyone else, for that matter.

[Dialup Llama]

Canadian police on Saturday said they had thwarted a "real and serious threat" from a group of men inspired by al Qaeda who were planning attacks in and around Toronto. The plot was said to involve three tons of ammonium nitrate -- three times the amount of fertilizer used in the Oklahoma City bomb

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/06/03/canada.terror/index.html

[MEG33]

Good news!

[MEG33]

;)

[Beagle8U]

"According to the Star's sources, the Canadian spy service CSIS has been monitoring the group since 2004, and an RCMP criminal investigation was launched last year."

This is exactly what I was talking about on that other thread. The Canadian Police and Intelligence agencies have been working just as hard on tracking terrorists as we have in the US, people don't hear much about it because THEY DON"T HAVE ALL THE DAMN LEAKERS LIKE WE DO!

End of rant, but its true.

[MEG33]

Thank you for the link! I am so happy these terrorists were thwarted!

[RSteyn]

>I simply remind them that we are capable of killing them much faster than we've indulged ourselves thus far, and that the terrorists ought not test our resolve too much.

We're not yet at the tipping point that people are willing to agree with me on this yet, but with every successful terrorist attack that point draws nearer.<

Terrorists count on our (continued) restraint and lack of resolve, but neither is unbounded. At some point, if survival of the West becomes a clear issue or the crime so sweeping, the gloves will come off by necessity.

[AFPhys]

Thanks to everyone for the links.

The stories in those links are quite revealing.

Those articles generally say that we've got a major problem with these terrorist wannabe's and that so far the police have been able to use normal forms of domestic intelligence to thwart them. It really points out why we need such LE tools as the Patriot Act and beyond to maintain the surveillance necessary... These guys had "training camps", cell phone, encrypted/password protected web communications, buying "explosives"/fertilizer, detonators, communications with other known terrorists in the US who have thus far been able to avoid arrest, etc.... lots of "normal" stuff you or I might have - but in addition they have this radical Islam orientation (along with 'imams' preaching peace in English and jihad in Arabic) and belief that they should kill civilians to achieve political ends.

I would wager that the one "heavy set man in his 50's" with two teenagers and a family who was featured in several of those stories is in fact one of those radical 'imams'. We'll see...

[VOA]

I didn't know that the Grand Tetons summer in Toronto.

[Allan]

Those arrested:


1. Fahim Ahmad, 21, Toronto;

2. Zakaria Amara, 20, Mississauga, Ont.;

3. Asad Ansari, 21, Mississauga;

4. Shareef Abdelhaleen, 30, Mississauga;

5. Qayyum Abdul Jamal, 43, Mississauga;

6. Mohammed Dirie, 22, Kingston, Ont.;

7. Yasim Abdi Mohamed, 24, Kingston;

8. Jahmaal James, 23, Toronto;

9. Amin Mohamed Durrani, 19, Toronto;

10. Steven Vikash Chand alias Abdul Shakur, 25, Toronto;

11. Ahmad Mustafa Ghany, 21, Mississauga;

12. Saad Khalid, 19, of Eclipse Avenue, Mississauga.

To quote Kate MacMillan of SmallDeadAnimals.com

(What was that quote from the news conference about the individuals not reflecting on any one community?) - here it is: "This operation does not reflect badly on any ethno-cultural group in Canada".

[MHGinTN]

Do you have the names of the two in Georgia, USA who are connected to these perps? Time for some FR research into these two Georgians and any connections in the South.

[Allan]

Further details:

- RCMP, along with CSIS and other security partners have arrested 12 adults and 5 young offenders who were planning a series of terrorist attacks on a variety of targets in southern Ontario.

- They've been charged under contributing to activity of a terrorist group, commission of firearms and explosives offenses for the benefit of a terrorist group, providing or making available property for the purpose of terrorist activities.

- 3 tons of ammonium nitrate was ordered and delivered. (the 1995 Oklahoma bombing was comleted with only 1 ton of ammonium nitrate)

- they had the capacity and intent to carry out the attacks

- All are Canadian residents from a variety of backgrounds, inspired by Al Qaeda

- Concern about what other groups may be out there, but are satisfied that the threat from this one has been removed.

[Allan]

The following from stoptheaclu.com may answer your question:

The investigation began back in 2004, when CSIS was monitoring Internet sites and tracing the paths of Canadians believed to have ties to international terrorist organizations. Local youths espousing fundamentalist views drew special attention, sources say.

Snip

Four months after authorities began to fear that Canada might have its own homegrown terrorist cell, two Americans entered the picture.

Ehsanul Islam Sadequee, a 19-year-old U.S. citizen of Bangladeshi descent who had attended high school in Ontario, and Syed Haris Ahmed, 21, a student at Georgia Tech, boarded a Greyhound bus in Atlanta on March 6, 2005, and travelled to Toronto to meet “like-minded Islamic extremists,” a U.S. court document alleges.

At the time the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force was watching the U.S. pair, Sadequee, according to court documents, was already on a no-fly list. But they crossed the border uneventfully and met three people associated with the group the Canadian authorities were watching.

(sorry I can't provide the link
I am abroad
writing from an internet cafe)

[AFPhys]

Excerpt from:
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1149285034044&call_pageid=976163513378&col=969048863474

Four months after authorities began to fear that Canada might have its own homegrown terrorist cell, two Americans entered the picture. Ehsanul Islam Sadequee, a 19-year-old U.S. citizen of Bangladeshi descent who had attended high school in Ontario, and Syed Haris Ahmed, 21, a student at Georgia Tech, boarded a Greyhound bus in Atlanta on March 6, 2005, and travelled to Toronto to meet "like-minded Islamic extremists," a U.S. court document alleges.At the time the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force was watching the U.S. pair, Sadequee, according to court documents, was already on a no-fly list. But they crossed the border uneventfully and met three people associated with the group the Canadian authorities were watching. Ahmed later told authorities that the meetings were to discuss U.S. locations suitable for a terrorist strike, including oil refineries and military bases, court documents state. They also allegedly talked about how to dismantle the Global Positioning System in an effort to disrupt military and commercial communications and traffic, and their plans to go to Pakistan to train at "terrorist-sponsored camps." (The FBI claims Ahmed "later travelled to Pakistan in an attempt to receive just such training.") Ahmed is now in U.S. custody, indicted in March for material support of terrorism. He has pleaded not guilty.Sadequee is accused of making false statements in connection with a terrorism investigation. He was arrested in April in Bangladesh and handed over to American authorities — a transfer his lawyer later characterized in court as being closer to a kidnapping than an arrest. Sadequee was flown to Alaska, according to U.S. news reports, and, having waived a preliminary hearing, consented to being transferred to Brooklyn, N.Y. He has been denied bail and is awaiting trial.

(end excerpt)
There is much more about this stuff. I wonder how thoroughly the associates of these guys have been researched by our LE. This certainly appears to add importance to that task.

[MHGinTN]

Thanks to you both. I want to see if we can generate more info on these two in Georgia. We're just getting started.