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June 04, 2006
Canada Stops Terrorist's Inspired By Al-Qaida
Canada nabs 17 terror suspects in Toronto
TORONTO - Canadian police foiled a homegrown terrorist attack by arresting 17 suspects, apparently inspired by al-Qaida, who obtained three times the amount of an explosive ingredient used in the Oklahoma City bombing, officials said Saturday.
"These individuals were allegedly intent on committing acts of terrorism against their own country and their own people," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement. "As we have said on many occasions, Canada is not immune to the threat of terrorism."
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested 12 adult suspects, ages 43 to 19, and five suspects younger than 18 on terrorism charges including plotting attacks with explosives on Canadian targets. The suspects were either citizens or residents of Canada and had trained together, police said.
The group acquired three tons of ammonium nitrate — three times the amount used to blow up the Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995, in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injured more than 800, said assistant Royal Canadian Mounted Police commissioner Mike McDonell.
The fertilizer can be mixed with fuel oil or other ingredients to make a bomb.
"This group posed a real and serious threat," McDonell said. "It had the capacity and intent to carry out these attacks."
Luc Portelance, assistant director of operations with Canada's spy agency, CSIS, said the suspects "appeared to have become adherents of a violent ideology inspired by al-Qaida" but that investigators have yet to prove a link to the terror network.
Five of the suspects were led in handcuffs Saturday to the Ontario Court of Justice, which was surrounded by snipers and bomb-sniffing dogs. A judge told the men not to communicate with one another and set their first bail hearing for Tuesday.
FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko said in Washington there may have been a connection between the Canadian suspects and a Georgia Tech student and another American who had traveled to Canada to meet with Islamic extremists to discuss locations for a terrorist strike.
Portelance, of Canada's spy agency, said it was the nation's largest counterterrorism operation since the adoption of the act and that more arrests were possible.
The adult suspects from Toronto are Chand, alias Abdul Shakur, 25; Fahim Ahmad, 21; Jahmaal James, 23; and Asin Mohamed Durrani, 19. Those from Mississauga are Ghany; Abdelhaleen; Zakaria Amara, 20; Asad Ansari, 21; Saad Khalid, 19; and Qayyum Abdul Jamal, 43.
Mohammed Dirie, 22, and Yasim Abdi Mohamed, 24, are from Kingston.
Wild Thing's comment.......
GOOD! It makes my day when terrorist's are caught! Keep up the good work Canada!
Posted by Wild Thing at June 4, 2006 12:55 AM
Comments
Maybe now Canada will wake up and become more aware of the fact they are a Western culture and therefore a target, just like America.
Posted by: TomR at June 4, 2006 10:44 AM
I agree with you Tom, what ticks me off is the article never once mentions the word MUSLIM. But look at the names hahaha every one of them is a Muslim and we know it. The PC press again being sooo afraid of the Moooslims.
sheesh
Thank you for commenting on this.
Posted by: Wild Thing at June 4, 2006 12:06 PM
