PING!
Posted on 06/12/2006 11:15:44 AM PDT by GMMAC
Warrant targets U.K. Suspect
Police sought bombs in raid, search papers say
Joseph Brean and Stewart Bell
National Post
Monday, June 12, 2006
Police were looking for chemicals and improvised explosive devices when they raided several addresses in Britain used by a man being questioned about his alleged ties to a Toronto terror plot, the National Post has learned.
A copy of the search warrant used by British police in their investigation of Aabid Khan, 21, who was arrested in the U.K. four days after the arrests in Toronto, shows authorities suspect him of terrorist involvement.
It authorizes police to search for "any item made or adapted for use in the commission of terrorist acts" including "explosives, precursor chemicals, weapons, component parts of weapons or improvised explosive devices."
It further allows them to seize money, travel tickets, videotapes and any "correspondence, evidence, articles and any paraphernalia or property associated with terrorism."
Mr. Khan's lawyer, Javid Arshad, could not be reached yesterday, but he told a local newspaper, "My client absolutely vehemently denies any involvement with terrorism either in this country or abroad. He has no links with any terror organization either in this country or worldwide."
The warrant also empowered police to seize computers at his home in Bradford as well as at an Internet cafe he sometimes used, suggesting investigators are interested in his on-line communications.
It makes no mention of Canada, but his family told the Post Mr. Khan had travelled to Canada last year, although they said his purpose was a meeting with a prospective bride arranged by his family, not to plot terrorism.
After he graduated from a Yorkshire school and worked at part-time jobs in manufacturing and packing, his parents, Saber Hussain and Khaseen Khan, "wanted to get him married, so they found a suitable girl," his aunt said.
"A family [in Canada] wanted to see him. The relationship did not go ahead, so he went to Pakistan instead."
From Canada, he travelled last year to Attock, halfway between the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, and Peshawar, the city at the gateway to Afghanistan where al-Qaeda was born in the late 1980s.
In Attock, he married Mehnaz Khan, an ''innocent young girl'' who lives in Attock City, as does Mr. Khan's maternal grandmother, the aunt said.
A resident of Bradford, West Yorkshire, Mr. Khan was returning from visiting his wife in Pakistan last Tuesday when he was arrested at Manchester Airport. A 16-year-old was also taken into custody later.
The arrests came just days after the RCMP made 17 arrests in the Toronto area following what has been described as Canada's largest counterterrorism probe since the 1985 Air-India bombings.
Canadian authorities claim the Toronto-based terrorist group, which they say was led by Fahim Ahmad, 21, and Zakaria Amara, 20, underwent terrorist training at a camp north of Toronto.
But Mr. Ahmad is also accused of communicating with conspirators in Britain and Pakistan about training camps in Pakistan. One of those charged, Jahmaal James, 23, is accused of going to Pakistan for training.
The group is accused of developing several plots. They attempted to smuggle guns into Canada and ordered three tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, which was to be used in several truck bombs that were to strike simultaneously, according to the allegations.
Their primary targets were said to include the Canadian Security Intelligence Service regional headquarters near the foot of the CN Tower, and the Toronto Stock Exchange.
But the group had also discussed storming the CBC building in Toronto, taking hostages on Parliament Hill and beheading the prime minister, according to the allegations.
Most of the accused are scheduled to appear in court in Brampton, Ont., today for bail hearings.
Mr. Khan was not among those charged by Canadian authorities, and he has not been charged in the U.K. West Yorkshire Police are holding him under the Terrorism Act, which permits authorities to detain terror suspects for up to 14 days without charge.
Several British media outlets have reported that Mr. Khan is being questioned about possible ties to those arrested in Toronto. Attributing unnamed sources, the Post has also reported he is considered an important player in the Toronto group.
Authorities suspect he may have ties to a Pakistani militant group, and some describe him as a "go-to guy" implicated in arranging weapons training at camps run by militants fighting in Kashmir.
Although the government of President Pervez Musharraf has clamped down on armed groups in Kashmir, there are persistent reports that the area remains a safe haven for Islamic militants.
"Some members of the July 7th plot [in which the London transit system was bombed last year] had roots in Pakistan, as have other jihadists," said Tom Quiggin, a Canadian export on terrorism and the global jihadist movement.
"The American-led attack on Afghanistan in October, 2001, compounded the problem, as many of the escapees fled to other areas in Pakistan and the Kashmir," said Mr. Quiggin, a Senior Fellow at the Centre of Excellence for National Security in Singapore.
Mr. Khan's family described him as short and skinny, "normally religious,'' and occasionally withdrawn, but still a popular young man in an urban Muslim neighbourhood.
"Basically, he was a softie," said his uncle, Ismael Khan. "He's a bit useless at football but still he tries.''
His uncle Arshad called him a "decent person. There was no clue.... He's a bright lad, he respects his elders. There was nothing there."
The husband-and-wife owners of the PC Vision cyber cafe that was raided by police as part of the probe of Mr. Khan, said they were shocked when handed the warrant.
"When I saw a warrant, I just sat down. It was the first time I saw a warrant. It was like a Hollywood movie scene. The police kept saying 'location one secure' " Irfan Sheikh said.
sbell@nationalpost.com
© National Post 2006
PING!
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There are three important activities that defime a Brit upper school boy.
Rugby, Cricket and Football
If he is "useless at football" he has something that he has to prove, if only to himself.
People who are all above board as the saying goes, are very unlikely to be raided by police on suspected terrorism related matters.
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