Watch: Billy Shields has details on how police came to arrest Jeffrey Labelle on terrorism charges
MONTREAL — A 21-year-old man has been arrested for making alleged threats against Montreal police stations.
Jeffrey Zakir Mohammed Labelle was in a Montreal court for a bail hearing on Monday, facing charges related to terrorist activity; specifically, that he committed acts that could reasonably construed as terrorist acts between Sept. 1 and Dec. 19, 2014.
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Police would not elaborate about any further possible charges that could come from Labelle’s preventative arrest.
Authorities said he was arrested on Friday after members of the man’s family reached out, concerned that he had become radicalized.
During their investigation, authorities said they found a map with locations of police stations marked on it in the man’s apartment.
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One Montreal security expert said the map was especially disconcerting.
“Obviously police officers are more at risk because they are visible,” said Claude Sarrazin, of CIRCO, an investigation firm.
“They can be tracked to fixed locations that we know about. They can’t hide police stations.”
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The arrest came a day before a man fatally shot two New York City police officers as they sat inside their patrol car.
It was in light of this incident, and recent attacks in Ottawa and St-Jean-sur-Richelieu that involved radicalized young men from Quebec, that caused the president of Montreal’s police union to sound the alarm on Monday, suggesting that the city’s multi-ethnic population could pose a risk to officers.
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“Recently all those people who have been arrested were French Quebecers and it was related to religion,” Yves Francoeur told CBC News in an interview.
“So we have to be very alert and we need the cooperation of the citizens.
“Since the event in Ottawa, in St Jean sur Richelieu, all those information are serious for any police department.
“It’s very tough to try to investigate those cases because it is not organized crime. We’re very familiar with the procedures we must take when we are facing the street gangs, the bikers, or the Mafia, but with these individuals, all the time they have mental problems, so you don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Montreal police have confirmed that Labelle had converted to Islam, but police spokespeople were careful to distance themselves from comments on Montreal’s multi-ethnicity made by the head of Montreal’s Police Brotherhood.
A minority rights advocate in Montreal strongly condemned the remarks.
“It’s completely unacceptable, complete nonsense,” said Fo Niemi, the executive director of Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations.
Labelle’s bail hearing was originally scheduled for Monday afternoon, but his attorney, Julie Bernier, said it had been moved to Tuesday so his father could attend.
Bernier also said Labelle’s father was not the relative who turned him in. The bail hearing has been set for 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.
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