They're Canadian... they've had practice.
Posted on 06/05/2006 6:29:39 PM PDT by FairOpinion
TORONTO (AP) - Police said Monday more arrests are likely in an alleged plot to bomb buildings in Canada, while intelligence officers sought ties between the 17 suspects and Islamic terror cells in the United States and five other nations.
A court said authorities had charged all 12 adults arrested over the weekend with participating in a terrorist group. Other charges included importing weapons and planning a bombing. The charges against five minors were not made public.
The Parliament of Canada, in Ottawa, is believed to be among targets the group discussed. Toronto Mayor David Miller said CN Tower, a downtown landmark, and the city's subway were not targets as had been the speculated in local media, but declined to identify sites that were.
A Muslim prayer leader who knew the oldest suspect, 43-year-old Qayyum Abdul Jamal, told The Associated Press on Monday that Jamal's sermons at a storefront mosque were "filled with hate" against Canada.
(AP) Map shows U.S.'s land borders with Canada and Mexico. (AP Graphic) Full Image
Authorities said more arrests were expected, possibly this week, as police pursue leads about a group that they say was inspired by the violent ideology of the al-Qaida terror network.
"We've by no means finished this investigation," Mike McDonell, deputy commissioner for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, told AP. "In fact, you might look at it that, really, we're just starting with the arrests. We have a responsibility to follow every lead."
Although both Canadian and U.S. officials said over the weekend there was no indication the purported terror group had targets outside Ontario, McDonell told AP on Monday that there are "foreign connections," but he would not elaborate.
In Washington, a spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House, said President Bush spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper about the case Monday afternoon, but gave no specifics of what was discussed.
"Prime Minister Harper called the president to update him on the situation involving the arrest of 17 individuals in Toronto who are charged with terrorism-related offenses," spokesman Frederick Jones said.
(AP) Map shows site of arrests and alleged training camp. (AP Graphic) Full Image
A U.S. law enforcement official said investigators were looking for connections between those detained in Canada and suspected Islamic militants held in the United States, Britain, Bangladesh, Bosnia, Denmark and Sweden.
American authorities have established that two men from Georgia who were charged this year in a terrorism case had been in contact with some of the Canadian suspects via computer, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing.
Prosecutors have said the Georgia men, Ehsanul Islam Sadequee and Syed Haris Ahmed, traveled to Washington to shoot "casing videos" of the Capitol and other potential targets.
Sadequee, 19, a U.S. citizen who grew up near Atlanta, is accused of lying to federal authorities during an FBI terrorism investigation. Ahmed, 21, a Georgia Tech student, faces a charge he provided material support and resources for terrorism.
In Atlanta, Ahmed's lawyer, Jack Martin, told AP there may have been some connection between his client and the suspects, but he insisted it wasn't part of any terrorism plot.
(AP) Mohammhed Abdelhaleen, father of terrorist suspect Shareef Abdelhaleen, leaves the court house... Full Image
"Other than having the possibility that they may have met at some point, I know of no indication that anyone believes my client had anything to do with what these guys were up to," Martin said.
A U.S. counterterrorism official said the 17 suspects in Canada are an example of a type of group that authorities have been concerned about for some time: self-organized, ad hoc cells of homegrown extremists, a development first seen in Britain.
The official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said Canada's government rightfully considered the 17 a serious threat because there was evidence the group was far along in planning attacks.
"It came to a point where our concern for the safety and security of the public far outweighed our appetite for collecting evidence," said McDonell, the RCMP deputy commissioner.
The U.S. counterterrorism official added there was no reason to believe the group had U.S. targets in mind, but also no reason to exclude the potential.
(AP) Tactical officers load a suspect into a holding van at the Durham Regional Police Station on... Full Image
Canadian police say there is no evidence the suspect group had ties to al-Qaida, but describe its members as being sympathetic to jihadist ideology. Officials are concerned that many of the 17 suspects were roughly 20 years old and had been radicalized in a short amount of time.
The Ontario Court of Justice released details of the charges faced by the 12 adult men arrested Friday and Saturday. The men are scheduled to appear in court Tuesday for a bail hearing.
Each is charged with one count of participating in a terrorist group.
Three of them - Fahim Ahmad, 21, Mohammed Dirie, 22, and Yasim Abdi Mohamed, 24 - also are charged with importing weapons and ammunition for the purpose of terrorist activity.
Nine face charges of receiving training from a terrorist group, while four are charged with providing training. Six also are charged with intending to cause an explosion that could cause serious bodily harm or death.
No information was released on the five young males arrested due to federal privacy laws that protect minors.
Canadian media have reported that the suspects attended a training camp in Washago, a rural community 90 north of Toronto. The National Post quoted unidentified residents in the wooded area as saying they heard machine-gun fire and saw men dressed in camouflage carrying equipment.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police displayed evidence Saturday that included camouflage uniforms, flashlights, walkie-talkies and detonators, but have refused to confirm whether they were used at a training facility.
Officials announced Saturday that the suspects were arrested after the group acquired three tons of ammonium nitrate, which can be mixed with fuel oil to make a powerful explosive. One-third that amount was used in the deadly bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995.
The Toronto Star reported that undercover Mounties delivered the substance to the group in a sting operation. The Star, citing unidentified sources, said the suspects actually received a harmless substance.
Some people who know the suspects said they were astonished by the arrests.
But Faheem Bukhari, a director of the Mississauga Muslim Community Center, said Jamal, the oldest suspect, had taken to giving hateful sermons and preaching intolerance to young Muslims at a small storefront mosque in Mississauga, a city near Toronto where six of the suspects lived.
"These youth were very fun-loving guys, soccer-loving guys, and then all of sudden they were not associating with guys they used to," Bukhari told AP, referring to some of the younger suspects.
He said Jamal once told "the audience that the Canadian Forces were going to Afghanistan to rape women."
Canada has about 2,300 soldiers in southern Afghanistan to bolster Afghan reconstruction and combat Taliban militants.
Bukhari's description contrasted with the view of another prayer leader at the mosque, who said while Jamal was "aggressive" in his sermons but never promoted hatred or violence.
"I will say that they were steadfast, religious people. There's no doubt about it. But here we always preach peace and moderation," Qamrul Khanson said Sunday.
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Associated Press reporters Mark Sherman and Katherine Shrader in Washington and Harry R. Weber in Atlanta contributed to this report.
LOL... well said. Canadian soldiers would most likely care more about their own lives than sex..
Details Emerge About Suspects in Canada Bomb Plot ~ CQ Comments
Initially the MSM was burying the "minor" detail that they were all Muslims.
Is there anyone who thinks the Mexican border is the only one that matters? Don't answer that question, I already know the answer.I'll answer it. I've always felt we were focused on the wrong border. The Canadian border stretches on forever and people barely know where it is. Look on Google earth, there are scores of places you could just pull off the road and detour through some farmers' tractor path.
None of the drama of the Rio Grande crossing with cameras and fences and Minutemen in lawn chairs. Just another quiet night up there in Vermont/Upstate New York/Minnesota/North Dakota. You know, where nothing...ever...happens.
Meanwhile, the country on the other side of the border is a little Europe with the same kinds of lax asylum policies, ghettoized Muslim communities and storefront mosques. The perfect forward base of operations for Al-Qaeda in this hemisphere.
Al-Qaeda's method is obviously "If at first you don't succeed, just wait seven or eight years and try the same thing all over again - except bigger this time." This whole thing is just a rerun of the millennium bomb plot that was busted by a sharp eyed customs inspector on 12/14/1999.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/trail/inside/cron.html
The investigation into an alleged Canadian terror plot could be moving south of the border.
Among the other countries mentioned is Britain.
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"British police said on Monday they were still searching for evidence of a chemical bomb in a house raided in a anti-terror operation last week, but declined to comment on reports they acted on faulty intelligence.
Police sources said specific intelligence had suggested the house in east London might have been used to make a toxic bomb for an attack in Britain, but lawyers for the men say they deny all accusations."
Lawyers.... need we say more.
Depends on how aroused the Canadian troops get from all that T&A [toe and ankle].
Fear the maple leaf!
Canada is actually doing something about this?
From Chat Room to Major Terror Plot Bust ~ On the Toronto Bust and connections to the NSA
....."Mohammed Dirie, one of the accused terrorist suspects, is currently serving a two-year sentence in a Kingston, Ont., jail for attempting to smuggle a gun across the U.S. border. The 22-year-old previously worked as a carpenter and was working towards a college diploma and Canadian citizenship"......
The journalist, Rosie Dimanno has toed the politically correct line many times. I remembered her unbelievable diatribe against the police once. Something happened later, I do not know what. Ms Dimanno seemed to cautiously come on side with the boys in blue.
I sincerely hope she does not draw flak from the holier than thou PC crowd. It may seem inconsequential to those in the land of the First Amendment to the Constitution, that she tees off.
In Canada she is taking her chances. Some well known "journalist" in Canada is already suggesting that benign indifference will pay dividends. He said, letting the Sikh terrorists walk, who helped blow up Air India, in 1985, solved the problem. This was the two flights out of Vancouver to New Delhi, via Toronto and Narita Airport, Japan. 329 souls perished.
The appeasers against the remorseless pursuit of the law,this is the real battle to come.
Thanks for the background....
Looking at F.O. map, wasn't it the cell at Buffalo that was one of the first to be in the news for arrests, after 9-11?
Thanks for the ping.
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