June 05, 2006
Learn from the Neighbours
6 face explosives charges in alleged plot
Last Updated Mon, 05 Jun 2006 14:37:48 EDT
CBC News
Six of 17 suspects arrested over the weekend in connection with an alleged plot to bomb Ontario targets have been charged with planning to cause a deadly explosion.The charges, released Monday morning, reveal that Fahim Ahmad, Zakaria Amara, Asad Ansari, Shareef Abdelhaleem, Qayyum Abdul Jamal and Saad Khalid have been accused of the most serious charges in the alleged plot.
If convicted, they face sentences of life in prison.
All of the suspects have been charged with offences under the Anti-terrorism Act, which was passed by Parliament months after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the U.S.
Twelve of the men have been charged with knowingly participating, directly or indirectly, in the activity of a terrorist group.
Those charges relate to activities in Mississauga, Ont., Toronto and the Township of Ramara, which is located about 150 kilometres north of Toronto.
Three of the suspects have been charged with importing firearms and prohibited ammunition, and supplying prohibited weapons.
Ten of the men are charged with engaging in terrorism-related training. Residents in Ramara reported hearing gunshots from an area where men were seen dressed in camouflage gear.
All 17 of the accused will appear in court Tuesday for a bail hearing.
The CBC story doesn't tell you that this was a police/RCMP sting. My skepticism about the Harper administration is sufficient for me to suspect an entrapment put-up job for the purpose of using fear in Canadian politics as has been so successfully prosecuted down here. Canadians can expect their own Canadian themed color coded terror alert scheme before the end of the month.
Posted by Melanie at June 5, 2006 05:19 PM | TrackBackThat's an interesting thought, Melanie. You might have a point.
I'm no fan of Harper's, nor of the horse he rode in on; however, no one, to my knowledge (i.e., The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, the Toronto Sun - I refuse to read the Asper paper) - nor any television network news show here has even suggested this. CSIS monitoring of internet chat rooms was what broke this case, and, since Canadian law requires the reporting by the seller of large quantities of ammonium nitrate, its purchase was what caused the RCMP to move in over the weekend.
If there was anything even resembling a sting, it was the RCMP's interception of the ammonium nitrate shipment and replacing it with a harmless substance before releasing it for delivery.
And no, I'm not a CSIS or RCMP shill - I'm just an old guy who reads the papers, which are a helluva lot more trustworthy than those south of our common border...
Boreas,
If you lived down here, you'd be as paranoid as I am.
Boreas,
I've read all the coverage. Who knows what was encouraged by CSIS in those chat rooms? I'm still thinking that a good defense lawyer is going to have an interesting time with these cases. Let's see how they hold up in court.
"Let's see how they hold up in court."
Fair enough.
(BTW - I did live "down there" until 1977...)
Yeah Melanie, there is always the possibility of a set up in anything governmental.
There is also the possibility that they got caught with enough stuff to ruin someones life permanently.
Please post up though if this is later found to be the case to keep it fair.
I got the report this morning here in the US in writing and it looks to me that the Mounties did one smack up good job of stopping "something". One thing was apparent though, they werent going to be using that fertilizer on a crop.
About that skepticism regarding the Harper administration, it's worth noting that surveillance on these people started two years ago. That would mean that some of your skepticism should be directed at the preceding Liberal administration. Still, it would healthy skepticism in my view because on these kinds of issues I didn't trust them either.
