Authorities: Group had 3 tons of material used in ’95 Oklahoma City blast

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10663276/?GT1=8211

MSNBC News Services
Updated: 1 hour, 12 minutes ago
TORONTO - A group of Canadian residents arrested in coordinated raids across the Toronto area for “terrorism-related offenses” had planned to blow up targets around southern Ontario, Canadian police said on Saturday.

Mike McDonnell, assistant commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said the group had acquired three metric tons of ammonium nitrate — or three times the amount used in the 1995 bombing in Oklahoma City — as they sought to “create explosive devices.” Police said they had arrested 12 adults and five young people.

“This group posed a real and serious threat,” McDonnell said. “It had the capacity and intent to carry out attacks. Our investigation and arrests prevented the assembly of any bombs and the attacks being carried out.”

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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,” McDonnell said.

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

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

“The men arrested yesterday are Canadian residents from a variety of backgrounds. For various reasons they appeared to have become adherents of a violent ideology inspired by al-Qaida,” said Luc Portelance, the assistant director of operations with CSIS — Canada’s spy agency.

Heavily armed police officers ringed the Durham Regional Police Station in the city of Pickering, just east of Toronto, as the suspects were brought in late Friday night in unmarked cars which were drove into an underground garage.

The Toronto Star reported Saturday that Canadian youths in their teens and 20s, upset at the treatment of Muslims worldwide, were among those arrested.

The newspaper said they had trained at a camp north of Toronto and had plotted to attack CSIS’s downtown office near the CN Tower, among other targets.

Melisa Leclerc, a spokeswoman for the federal Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, had no comment on the arrests. NBC VIDEO


• Canada arrests 17 on terror charges
June 3: Canadian authorities arrested 17 people on “terrorism-related offenses.”
MSNBC



In March 2004, Ottawa software developer Mohammad Momin Khawaja became the first Canadian charged under the country’s Anti-Terrorism Act for alleged activities in Ottawa and London. Khawaja was also named, but not charged, in Britain for playing a role in a foiled bomb plot. He is being held in an Ottawa detention center, awaiting trial.

The Canadian anti-terrorism law was passed swiftly following the Sept. 11 assaults, particularly after Osama bin-Laden’s named Canada one of five so-called Christian nations that should be targeted for acts of terror. The others, reaffirmed in 2004 by his al-Qaida network, were the United States, Britain, Spain and Australian, all of which have been victims of terrorist attacks.

The anti-terrorism law permits the government to brand individuals and organizations as terrorists and gives police the power to make preventive arrests of people suspected of planning a terrorist attack.

Though many view Canada as an unassuming neutral nation that has skirted terrorist attacks, it has suffered its share of aggression, including the 1985 Air India bombing, in which 329 people were killed, most of them Canadian citizens.

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.

© 2006 MSNBC Interactive


photos and video within link

I'm so glad they caught these guys before they did something stupid like blow up a building like in OK city. I listened to the reports on the news from CSIS about the possibility of an attack and I knew that it was possible due to the fact that we are free, democratic country, and an ally of the US. We as Canadians should now be vigilant and looking out for possible threats. Its time we showed these scum whos boss.

Like maple syrup, Canada's evil oozes over the United States.




"Formerly known as Jammit - JBO member since 1998" JBOM | CSS.net

I dont know what to say about this, I am skeptic about the findings....can GAM respond on this since he seems to know the works with respect to "stuff"

Glad they were caught but this is Canada we're talking aboot which means they'll be out in 6 months tops.





Semper Fi SAINT. May you rest in peace.

What did we (Canada) do to deserve this? Were one of the most respected places on this planet. Like what the "A" man.

Haha seriously? Most respected on the planet? Get real

What did you do to deserve this. Who knows, what did we do to deserve our WTC's Bombed, or what did london do to cause someone to bomb them?

Or what did the federal building in OK do to deserve it either ? Or better yet all the people that wack job killed !

I'm just glad they were caught before they killed any innocent Canadians. See this just proves you don't have to do sh-t to these "people" to make them want to kill you. Welcome to the club Canada !





Semper Fi SAINT. May you rest in peace.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=bc7c86b1-7f67-4b69-9edf-035e8ca42fab&k=5708

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Law/2006/06/04/1614286-cp.html <-- More related stories at the top of the story.



Transeat In Exemplum: Let this stand as the example.

Holy Crap Gam I just read the links you provided and, dare I say it, its just as bad up there as it is down here!
So now YOU Guys can detain indefinently someone suspected of terrorism or a security threat to Canada!
lol and wasn't Canada screaming about Gitmo just as loudly as the rest of the world calling indefinent detainees without a trial unjust, inhuman, and agaisnt the Geneva convention! And now your gonna start doing it too!
Welcome to the club indeed Canada !





Semper Fi SAINT. May you rest in peace.

William Taylor wrote:What did we (Canada) do to deserve this? Were one of the most respected places on this planet. Like what the "A" man.

haha.

The Security Certificate programme and our laws allow for the indefinite detention and expulsion of non-citizens in order to protect the public at large. Citizens are held and tried as a matter of criminal procedure under the anti-terrorism act.

The difference is that Canada's Security Certificate programme requires a hearing and a tribunal to sign off on the arrest before hand. The programme is under review by the Supreme Court of Canada to determine if it infringes on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/newsroom/factsheets/2005/certificat-e.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_certificate <-- Needs revising.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSIS



Transeat In Exemplum: Let this stand as the example.

And we grab non citizens who are attacking us and detain them. I don't see a diference there at all. Maybe some wording and samantics but when it comes right down to it its exactly the same thing we're doing at Gitmo.

I'll read the links just to make sure I see where your coming from but it sounds the same to me.




Semper Fi SAINT. May you rest in peace.

Ok yup basicly the same thing as we do down here. Except we wait till they attack then they get held till a hearing to determin if they are a danger or if they accidently attacked us to begin with.

I also see people up there are screaming about civil liberties as well. Tough, you do what ya gotta do to keep your public safe, and if that means pissing off a few people along the way too bad. Your govt has to think of the majority FIRST and then individual rights second.





Semper Fi SAINT. May you rest in peace.

It's slightly different. Security Certificates are issued under our Immigration & Refugee Protection Act (ie. these people are not citizens) and part of the due process is the presentation of decisive evidence to a federal tribunal of judges. Once they sign off the individual is usually held in a Federal Prison, and has the right to consult a lawyer.

Gitmo is slightly different as its basically the second last step of deportment. The Security Certificate programme allows for a review of the evidence and the justice must assign a reasonable amount of time, at the conclusion of which, either the individual is allowed to stay (sometimes with restrictions) or is expelled from the country to whatever country their passport is from.



Transeat In Exemplum: Let this stand as the example.

Ok but its damn close! Slight differences but yet people can still be held till hell freezes over. Not a bad thing at all. Besides it sounds like your system has a few more steps or checks and ballences then ours does so I'm all for it ! You do what you gotta do to keep your people safe.




Semper Fi SAINT. May you rest in peace.

Even though Holding people indefinitely is rare, because there is that "reasonable period of time" assignment, it's true... What we have as a short coming by not having external intelligence services, we make up by not having multiple tiers of law enforcement and security establishment red-tape.

With only CSIS and the RCMP involved, the jurisdictions are clear, and everyone knows the rules.



Transeat In Exemplum: Let this stand as the example.

Well good luck Gam and remember to keep your head down.





Semper Fi SAINT. May you rest in peace.

Thanks




Transeat In Exemplum: Let this stand as the example.

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=10c700c2-40bb-43dd-a7bc-1df0316ab9ec&k=2219

CanWest News Service wrote:
Terror suspect accused of wanting to behead prime minister: lawyer

CanWest News Service
Published: Tuesday, June 06, 2006

BRAMPTON, Ont — A 25-year-old restaurant worker is accused of planning to storm Parliament Hill, behead Prime Minister Stephen Harper, take hostages and behead them unless the group’s demands were met, accoridng to his lawyer.

Gary Batasar, the lawyer for Steven Chand (also known by his Muslim name Abdul Shakur), emerged from court Tuesday saying Crown prosecutors had provided him with an eight-page "summary" of the charges against his client and 16 other men arrested last week.

"My client is being accused of plotting to storm the Parliament buildings, take hostages (and) make demands to remove Canadian troops from Afghanistan and to free Muslim prisoners," Batasar said outside the Brampton, Ont. courthouse.

"He is supposed to have planned to behead hostages if his demands weren’t met ... and to want to behead the prime minister. The last thing was that they were going to storm the CBC building downtown (in Toronto) to take over communications to broadcast their message."

Chand is one of 17 men, all Muslims, who were arrested Friday and charged with planning a terrorist attack. Police said the men were planning to build a simple but effective bomb using fertilizer and diesel fuel.

Sources said the men were in an advanced stage of planning two attacks: a truck bombing to destroy a significant building and an attack involving opening fire on a crowded public place.

Fifteen of the accused, including five young offenders, appeared in court Tuesday under tight security for an initial hearing and to set dates for bail hearings.

Batasar would not comment on whether his client denies the accusations, but said: "Mr. Chand is certainly quite perturbed by these allegations."

In Ottawa, Harper brushed off the alleged death threats with a joke as he exited the House of Commons following the question period.

"I can live with all these threats as long as they don't come from my caucus," he told reporters.

At Tuesday’s hearing, the accused shuffled into the crowded courtroom in three separate groups, handcuffed together and wearing white T-shirts and grey sweatpants. Friends and family of the men filled almost all of the available seats, with about 15 reporters lining the back rows of the court.

The men listened while their lawyers argued over their clients’ treatment since they were jailed last Friday night, the inadequacy of Crown disclosure of evidence and their clients’ inability to meet with their lawyers or family members.

Asad Ansari, 21, Fahim Ahmad, 21, Zakaria Amara, 20, Qayyum Abdul Jamal, 43, Amin Mohamed Durrani, 19, and Jahmaal James, 23, are to return to court June 12 for bail hearings, along with three of the young offenders, who cannot be identified.

Shareef Abdelhaleen, 30, will return on July 4 for a bail hearing. One of the youths will also have a bail hearing on June 16 and Saad Khalid, 19, is to be back in court on June 30.

"What we have received today is such bare bones, so little, that it's virtually impossible to comment on the authenticity of the synopsis that has been provided to us," said Arif Raza, the lawyer for Khalid.

He said his 19-year-old client is accused of attending a training camp in Ontario and was arrested at the time of the delivery of the tonnes of ammonium nitrate, which police had intercepted and replaced with an inert substance.

Donald McLeod, lawyer for Jahmaal James, said defence lawyers have complained their clients were being held in segregation, under 24-hour supervision and were not allowed to use the telephone or to speak to their family members.

He also complained of restrictions in his access to his client, including only being allowed to speak to him through a Plexiglas shield and then only with guards present. He added that the accused are being refused their religious rights.

"They're Muslim," McLeod said. "Clearly they'd like to be able to pray as a group. I'd like to facilitate that religious freedom they're entitled to."

Anser Farooq, who is representing a number of the accused men, questioned whether his clients would receive a fair trial, given the extensive media attention the case has drawn.

"My clients are entitled to a fair trial ... and to be treated the same way as anyone else who has been accused of an offence," he said. "They are presumed innocent — they are innocent until they are proven guilty in court."
© CanWest News Service 2006

Transeat In Exemplum: Let this stand as the example.

Gotta love that media spin.

Since when does "Wanting" something equate planning to do it ? Hell, I "want" a Ferarri--that dont mean I'm planning on getting one.

@!#$ iddiots. Looks like we have learned all the tricks from the US.




Rice.....Part of a balanced Pontiac diet.

If you had typed in this forum about how you had been saving and you thought you'd be able to buy that Ferarri in 5 years if things stay on track, I'd believe you.

It all depends on how they expressed that desire. "I want a Ferarri" is not the same as "I have a plan to buy a Ferarri."

Also, what did urban dwelling folks need 3 tons of 31-0-0 fertalizer for? 3 tons of Ammonium Nitrate is only usefull to farmers and bomb makers.

PAX

It seems to me the media is trying to spread fear with all of this.

Manchesterbeast wrote:It seems to me the media is trying to spread fear with all of this.

Well that's a suprise. Fear sells. The American media is no different.




I've never heard of this "part throttle" before. Does it just bolt on?

Well a few weeks ago, immigration agents stormed a school and took 2 kids hostage so their mother and father would come forward to be deported... RIGHT HERE IN CANADA GUYS!!!!!!!!