It was certainly a bombshell when 15 suspects were brought to the Brampton Court (north-west of Toronto) on Tuesday morning as one of them is accused of wanting to behead Prime Minister Stephen Harper during an attack on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
The person who has been so accused is reportedly Steven Vikash Chand, 25, a Hindu by birth who, according to reports in Canadian newspapers, converted to Islam recently and took the name Abdul Shakur.
He then started going to the Salaheddin Islamic Center and since then has been busy volunteering in mosques distributing Islamic literature.
He is said to be Indo-Trindadian as most of the accused are either from the Caribbean or are South Asians, largely from Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Chand's defense lawyer Gary Batasar said in the media scrum outside the courthouse that the synopsis of accusations provided by the Crown indicated that his client, Chand "would personally like to behead Stephen Harper" and that the group, accused of terrorist activities, planned to behead the hostages if their demands for withdrawing Canadian troops from Afghanistan and the release of Muslim prisoners weren't met.
According to the defense lawyer, his client was "quite perturbed" by such allegations.
Canadian Prime Minister Harper spoke with US President George W Bush on the telephone on Monday and thanked him for the help that Canada has received from US intelligence and police.
Soon after these people were arrested, Harper said in a statement from his office in Ottawa, "As we have said on many occasions, Canada is not immune to the threat of terrorism. Through the work and cooperation of the RCMP, CSIS, local law enforcement and Toronto's Integrated National Security Enforcement Team, acts of violence by extremist groups may have been prevented Canada's new government will pursue its efforts to ensure the national security of all Canadians."
At the initiative of defense lawyers -- Batasar only represented Chand -- the court postponed the bail hearings for later this month.
In the meantime, all 15 (including 5 minors) will continue to be in custody.
Two of the 17 accused -- Mohammed Dirie, 22, and Yasim Abdi Mohamed, 24 -- are already in Kingston Penitentiary charged with weapons related offences.
Donald McLeod, another defense lawyer, said in the court that the suspects are being held under 24-hour supervision and they (defense lawyers) could to talk to them only through plexiglas. "We would like to be given the opportunity to have a private visit with them, because we feel it's important to at least garner their information privately without any glass or on the phone," McLeod said.
These 17 suspects (excluding two already serving two years) were arrested on Friday and Saturday by well organised police raids on a large number of homes and establishments that involved almost 400 police officers of the Toronto Police, Ontario Provincial Police, Peel Regional Police, Royal Canadian Mounted Police and agents of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
RCMP assistant commissioner said in the media briefing that they have been keeping a close watch on these people for two years.
That it was the result of some cryptic messages that the police read on the Internet being exchanged between these people that meant they were up to something.
Then the RCMP got involved in the sting operation when they found out the suspects were shopping around for large quantities of ammonium nitrate and, if mixed with oil, it could become a powerful bomb.
In the Oklahoma bombing, McVeigh used only one tonne of the ammonium nitrate.
Soon after, 3 tonnes of this material was delivered to a warehouse in New Market, north of Toronto, on Friday.
Police raided the establishment and dozens of homes in the dead of night.
Charges against 12 accused presented in the court, include their being part of a terrorist organisation.
There's no Al Qaeda connection claimed in the charges.
Police have repeatedly called them 'home-grown terrorists', most of them between 17-25 years, excepting one of the suspects Qayyum Jamal, who is 43.
It seems six teenagers, who have been arrested, used to be very close to him, going out together, socialising and even parents of these people started getting worried about his growing influence on their children.
These six teenagers attended Al-Rahman Islamic Center, the same mosque where Jamal sometimes led prayers.
He, reports say, used to become very angry discussing world politics.
Liberal Member of Parliament Wajid Khan, was once invited to that mosque and Jamal introduced him. He's an MP from Mississauga-Streetsville where the mosque is located.
In the process of introducing Khan, Jamal reportedly launched a verbal attack on Canadian institutions and, in particular, on the deployment of Canadian troops in Afghanistan, where, he claimed, they were raping Afghan women.
"It was all kinds of derogatory things," Khan said and so he, after telling the congregation, "This was misinformation and they shouldn't accept it I walked out."
Chand and eight other men were charged by the Crown with training for the purpose of terrorist activity.
Training is alleged to have taken place between November 27 and December 31, 2005. Three men were charged with two offences each, concerning smuggling of guns or terrorist activity.
Four men were charged under the criminal code as they alleged to have either recruited or trained others for the purpose of terrorist activity.
And six men were charged with intent to cause an explosion at the direction of or in association with a terrorist group.
All these charges carry maximum sentences of 10 years.
Even though police have so far refused to identify the alleged targets, media reports have suggested Parliament buildings in Ottawa, the Toronto Stock Exchange and CSIS headquarters in Toronto may have been in suspects' sights.
A day after these people were arrested, some people vandalised the International Muslim Organization Mosque in suburban Etobicoke.
Dr Shafiq Qaadri, liberal member of Ontario Legislature, who went immediately thereafter to personally see the mosque, told this reporter, "The government of Ontario expresses an unequivocal statement of solidarity with all ethnic groups, in particular the community that was affected (Muslims) at the International Muslim Organization.
"I had an opportunity to tour the site immediately the day after these events. There was some physical damage as a result of vandalism, but physical damage is not as much as emotional. That, of course, will heal. Once again, we express our solidarity and absolute disapproval of these kinds of vandalism."
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said, "The Ontario government will continue to work alongside other governments and police agencies to guard against any potential violent acts."
He said in a statement, "In the wake of these arrests, I would urge all Ontarians not to judge each other by race, ethnicity or religion. We must speak with one voice in speaking out against terrorism, just as we deplore racism, hatred and violence."
Those who have been charged of terrorism/terrorist activities include Fahim Ahmad, 21; Zakaria Amara, 20; Saad Khalid, 19; Ahmad Mustafa Ghany, 21; Amin Mohamed Durrani, 19; Jahmaal James, 23.
There are 5 minors, who under Young Offenders Act, cannot be identified.
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