Canada Terrorism Watch: 17 Canadians in Custody for Terrorist Plot to Use Explosives

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.

ASSociated Press: 17 Terror Suspects Arrested in Toronto

Seventeen Canadian residents were in custody Saturday on terrorism- related charges, including plots to use explosives in attacks on Canadian soil, authorities said.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said they arrested 12 male adults and five youth and foiled plans for terrorist attacks against targets in southern Ontario.

Officials showed evidence of bomb making materials, a computer hard drive, camouflage uniforms and what appears to be a door with bullet holes in it at a news conference Saturday morning.

“This group took steps to acquire three tons of ammonium nitrate and other components necessary to create explosive devices,” said assistant Royal Canadian Mounted Police commissioner Mike McDonell said.

McDonell said that is three times the amount used to blow up the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

The arrests were made Friday, with some 400 officers involved.

McDonell said the suspects were either citizens or residents of Canada and had trained together.

And how were authorities alerted to this terrorist cell?

The Answer: Internet monitoring

And there were ties to United States “like-minded Islamic extremists.”

The Canadian investigation involves a complicated web of connections, with alleged ties to two men from Georgia who came to Toronto in March 2005 to meet with “like-minded Islamic extremists,” according to U.S. court documents.

And the Canadians are complaining about new American passport controls?

Too bad…….

Canadian police display a home-made bomb detonator and equipment seized as evidence during the arrest of a group of people on anti-terrorism charges, at a news conference in Toronto, June 3, 2006.
Border security is of paramount importance to the United States.

Now, when will those National Guard troops be deployed at the Mexican border?

Not soon enough!

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.

And the United States needs to tighten the border with Canada.

Intelligence officials believe at least 50 terror groups now have some presence in the North American nation and have long complained that the country’s immigration laws and border security are too weak to weed out potential terrorists.

Stay tuned…..

Michelle Malkin has CANDIAN TERROR BUST

Pajamas Media rundown.

Threats Watch breaks down the details, including this stunner:

3 tons of ammonium nitrate found–three times that used in the 1995 OKC bombing.

John Stephenson notes that Internet monitoring led to the raid.

Canadian blogger Stephen Taylor has the lowdown on the Muslim “youths” arrested and has must-read ongoing coverage.

From the RCMP press release:

Arrested and charged with offences under the Criminal Code of Canada are:

1. Fahim Ahmad, 21, of Robinstone Drive, Toronto, Ontario;
2. Zakaria Amara, 20, of Periwinkle Crescent, Mississauga, Ontario;
3. Asad Ansari, 21, of Rosehurst Drive, Mississauga, Ontario;
4. Shareef Abdelhaleen, 30, of Lowville Heights, Mississauga, Ontario;
5. Qayyum Abdul Jamal, 43, of Montevideo Road, Mississauga, Ontario;
6. Mohammed Dirie, 22, Kingston, Ontario;
7. Yasim Abdi Mohamed, 24, Kingston, Ontario;
8. Jahmaal James, 23, of Trudelle Street, Toronto, Ontario;
9. Amin Mohamed Durrani, 19, of Stonehill Court, Toronto, Ontario;
10. Steven Vikash Chand alias Abdul Shakur, 25, of Treverton Drive, Toronto, Ontario;
11. Ahmad Mustafa Ghany, 21, of Robin Drive, Mississauga, Ontario;
12. Saad Khalid, 19, of Eclipse Avenue, Mississauga, Ontario.

Blogosphere:

Glenn Reynolds

Darleen Click

Thomas Galvin

Captain’s Quarters

Allah over at Hot Air has a great set of links:

If you’re as late to the story as I am, get caught up with Michelle, then Pajamas Media, then the Counterterrorism Blog, which notes that jihadis have been recruiting homegrown Muslims precisely because they’re harder to detect. Judeoscope has the names of the twelve adult suspects; the other five are under 18. Kids are harder to detect too, no?

The Toronto Star says the suspects trained at a camp north of Toronto.

A terror training camp. North of Toronto.

Update: More details from the Star:

Most were Canadian citizens or residents. Police described them as coming from a broad “strata” of society. Some are students, some are employed, some are unemployed. The adults range in age from 19 to 43.

As usual, contrary to socialist dogma, the suspects weren’t poor and uneducated. Says the Star, “One was a math and chemistry whiz from Scarborough who grew up to become a 22-year-old husband and father.”

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.

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