OTTAWA – Two Ottawa men and a man from St. Thomas, Ont., are accused of conspiring with others in Iran, Afghanistan, Dubai and Pakistan to build improvised explosive devices for attacks in Canada and raise money to fund IED attacks on Canadian troops in Afghanistan.
An RCMP spokesman said the accused had IED parts, including more than 50 circuit boards that could be used to remotely detonate bombs, but wouldn’t say if the group had explosives. The investigation was intended to prevent the use of the IEDS against coalition forces and Canadian troops, said Serge Therriault.
Havi Mohammad Alizadeh, 30, and Misbahuddin Ahmed, 36, are charged along with Khurram Syed Sher, 28, with the offence, which alleges they conspired with three other people – identified as James Lara, Rizgar Alizadeh and Zakaria Mamosta – and other "persons unknown" to facilitate a "terrorist activity" between February 2008 and Aug. 24 of this year.
Police also said the men were preparing to Alizadeh, who is believed to be an Iranian Kurd, is also charged with making or having an explosive device in his possession with intent to endanger life or to cause serious damage to property for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a terrorist group. He is also charged with directly or indirectly making available property or financial services knowing that they would be used to benefit a terrorist group. Those offences are alleged to have occurred between September 2009 and Aug. 24.
Alizadeh, who wore a brown skull cap over his long curly brown hair, and Ahmed, sporting a full beard and wearing a tan, long-sleeved shirt, appeared briefly in an Ottawa courtroom Thursday before being returned to jail pending an appearance by video next Wednesday.
Sher did not appear in court in Ottawa, and federal prosecutor David McKercher indicated outside court no further arrests had yet been made.
It is believed Sher was arrested in southwestern Ontario where he recently moved. He is believed to be a doctor who graduated from McGill University medical school in 2005. The website for the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario lists Khurram Syed Sher as practising at the Thomas Elgin General Hospital in the Department of Anatomical Pathology.
Richard Fraser, a professor at the McGill University Health Centre, confirmed that Sher studied pathology at the school and said he considered Sher a friend.
He said he found it difficult to understand the allegations against him.
"I do not believe that he would be involved in or support any group with terrorist aims or ideals," he said in an email.
In 2006, Sher was in Pakistan during the relief efforts after an earthquake in Kashmir.
A Khurram Sher was a contestant on the CTV reality program Canadian Idol. RCMP would not confirm it is the same man.
The other three people identified in the court documents as being involved in the conspiracy – Lara, Rizgar Alizadeh and Mamosta – do not appear to have been charged, and the RCMP said they are not in Canada.
Hiva Alizadeh and Ahmed were arrested Wednesday following searches on two Ottawa properties. The arrests follow a two-year police investigation into what is believed to be a bomb plot with a yet-to-be determined target. The ringleader is believed to have trained in the Pakistan and Afghanistan region, according to the National Post.
The arrests were made Wednesday because one of the suspects was preparing to travel abroad.
Speaking in Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T., Prime Minister Stephen Harper said it was "not my place" to comment on the specifics of police investigations.
However, he added: "Unfortunately, this incident does serve to remind us that Canada does face some very real threats in the troubled world in which we live."
In 2007, a Dr. Khurram Sher was one of a group of doctors who signed a letter to Stockwell Day, the public safety minister at the time, protesting the treatment of three Muslim men being held in a Kingston penitentiary on security certificates.
On Wednesday, police were suggesting that the network revealed by the raids was similar to the 2006 "Toronto 18" case, in which 11 people were eventually convicted for plotting to bomb major public and government sites and services in and around Ottawa and Toronto. That conspiracy was aimed at provoking Canada’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Questions now turn to the origin, scope and planning of the current alleged plot. Also to be determined are the backgrounds and roles of the accused, whether they’re "homegrown," self-radicalized extremists with little or no training, skilled operatives affiliated with and financed by the global terror network, or secondary players providing logistics and material support. Increasingly, the primary jihadist threat to the West emanates from regional Islamist groups and grassroots followers.
Canada’s top national security officials have issued repeated, but purposely vague warnings over the past year about the threat violent extremism poses within Canada and from Canadian jihadists operating abroad. Public Safety Minister Vic Toews recently delivered a speech about his increasing concern over the radicalization taking place in Canada.
At the same time, persistent rumours have circulated for months about a major counter-terrorism operation centred on the nation’s capital and involving the RCMP’s Ottawa-based Integrated National Security Enforcement Team, including investigators from Ottawa police and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
The spy agency recently revealed it is tracking more than 200 people in Canada with possible links to as many as 50 terrorist groups.
Police hauled several computer hard drives and what appeared to be a photo or document scanner from one of the Ottawa homes they raided at about 2:15 p.m. Wednesday.
Earlier, they removed a blue Mazda registered to Ahmed.
"He seemed like a nice young guy," said Robert Farrell, who rents the property to Ahmed, his wife, and their daughter, who is about six months old. "They seemed to be more of a traditional Muslim family."
Farrell, a former Canadian diplomat who had been stationed in the Middle East, recalled Ahmed saying he was born in India, but had lived for a time in Saudi Arabia.
Ahmed, who works as an X-ray technician at the Ottawa Hospital, rented the home about a year ago, after responding to an ad Farrell placed on an online rental site.
Guy Morency, The Ottawa Hospital’s director of diagnostic imaging, said Ahmed started at the hospital in 2008 and worked as a general radiography technologist.
As an employee, Morency said there was nothing bad to say about him.
"He was a very good, reliable technologist," said Morency. "As an employee, he did his job very well, got along well with his colleagues."
Farrell’s wife believes Ahmed, who appeared to be in his late 30s or early 40s, and thin with a full, long beard, had been in Canada for several years.
Neighbour Janice Burtt said the man and woman who lived in the house were quiet and, "that nothing seemed too out of the ordinary." Other people noted the woman wore a niqab.
Experts speculate this latest alleged plot may have been an attempt by western affiliates of al-Qaida or a homegrown cell inspired by its jihadist ideology to strike at targets in North America.
"There is substantial evidence from cases in the U.K. and the E.U. that various so-called homegrown groups do demonstrate a connection to an al-Qaida centre in areas of doctrine, strategy, tactics and target selection," said Prof. Martin Rudner, a retired Carleton University terrorism expert.
And it will be no surprise if Ottawa is revealed to have been an intended target.
"There’s a tradition on the jihadist side of seeking a presence in Ottawa," Rudner said, referring to suspected terrorists held under security certificates and to the case involving Momin Khawaja, an Ottawa man convicted of a role in plotting to bomb public sites in and around London, England.
"We know from operational history that capital cities tend to get targeted."
The police project is said to have placed an enormous strain on RCMP surveillance and technological resources at a time when the federal force was coping with the Vancouver Winter Olympics and the G8 and G20 summits of world leaders. Case managers were supposedly told funding for surveillance and electronic eavesdropping would end around June.
Around the same time, two federal prosecutors who specialize in terrorism cases were seen at a site used by the investigators, fuelling speculation the probe was moving into a new phase.
Anthony Seaboyer, head of the proliferation security research group at Queen’s University’s Centre for International Relations, called the arrests "a great success" for Canadian anti-terrorism forces. "It shows that the RCMP, Ottawa police and CSIS can actually co-operate effectively," Seaboyer said.
Given the scathing criticism of how authorities handled the Air India bombing, "this is a good sign," he said.
"Canada is moving more and more away from being a safe haven for terrorist organizations."
It is impossible to know how many terrorism cells are active in Canada, Seaboyer said. He said Canada is becoming more of a target for terrorists who want to use attacks on Canadian facilities, such as Quebec’s hydroelectric plants and transmission lines, to harm the U.S.
"There are ways of attacking the U.S. through Canada. The whole energy (supply) for New York comes from Quebec, for example."
With files from Ian MacLeod, Kristy Nease, Glen McGregor, Meghan Hurley, Don Butler, Chris Cobb, Gary Dimmock, Jennifer Pagliaro, Jennifer Green, Doug Quan and the National Post.
Courtesy: CTV and Insight Productions
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