Canadian police behind bomb transaction

The delivery of three tons of ammonium nitrate to a group suspected of plotting terrorist attacks in southern Ontario was part of an undercover police sting operation, the Canadian newspaper the Toronto Star reported. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said that after investigating the alleged homegrown terrorist cell for months, they had to move quickly on the night of June 2 to arrest 12 men and five youths before the group could launch a bomb attack on Canadian soil. Sources say investigators who had learned of the group's alleged plan to build a bomb were controlling the sale and transport of the massive amount of fertilizer, a key component in creating explosives. Once the deal was done, the RCMP-led anti-terrorism task force moved in for the arrests. At a news conference on June 3, the RCMP displayed a sample of ammonium nitrate and a crude cell phone detonator they say was seized in the massive police sweep when the 17 were taken into custody. However, they made no mention of the police force's involvement in the sale. "It was their intent to use it for a terrorist attack," said RCMP assistant commissioner Mike McDonell. "If I can put this in context for you, the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people was completed with only one ton of ammonium nitrate." Ammonium nitrate is a popular fertilizer, but when mixed with fuel oil it can create a powerful explosive. "This group posed a real and serious threat," said McDonell, speaking near a table with seized evidence such as a 9-mm Luger handgun, military fatigues and two-way radios. "It had the capacity and intent to carry out these acts." The suspects were allegedly planning to launch attacks in southern Ontario, but officials would not specify targets. Nor would they say if attacks were considered imminent. The charges laid against the men included participating in or contributing to the activity of a terrorist group, including training and recruitment; providing or making available property for terrorist purposes; and the commission of indictable offenses, including firearms and explosives offenses for the benefit of or in association with a terrorist group. Charged are Fahim Ahmad, 21; Jahmaal James, 23; Amin Mohamed Durrani, 19; and Steven Vikash Chand, 25, all of Toronto; Zakaria Amara, 20; Asad Ansari, 21; Shareef Abdelhaleen, 30; Ahmad Mustafa Ghany, 21; Saad Khalid, 19; and Qayyum Abdul Jamal, 43, all of Mississauga; and Mohammed Dirie, 22 and Yasin Abdi Mohamed, 24, who are incarcerated in Kingston. As officials spoke with reporters, the suspects were being loaded into unmarked vehicles at the Ajax-Pickering police station, where they had spent the night. Wearing leg irons and handcuffs, they were taken to a Brampton courtroom in groups of between two and six to appear before a justice of the peace. Anser Farooq, a lawyer who represents five of the accused, pointed at snipers on the roof of the courthouse and said: "This is ridiculous. They've got soldiers here with guns. This is going to completely change the atmosphere. "I think [the police] cast their net far too wide," he said, adding his clients are considering suing law enforcement agencies. The father of one accused, Mohammed Abdelhaleen, spoke outside the courthouse after his son's appearance, saying there is "no validation" to any of the charges against any of the suspects. "I have no idea what this is," said the distraught father. "I'm sure it's going to come to nothing. We're playing a political game here. I hope the judicial system realizes this." It's still unclear how the group of suspects is connected and police offered few details of its alleged activities. But sources close to the investigation told the Star that the investigation began in 2004 when CSIS began monitoring fundamentalist internet sites and their users. They later began monitoring a group of young men, and the RCMP launched a criminal investigation. Police allege the group later picked targets and plotted attacks. Police said there were no known connections to al-Qaida or international terrorist organizations, but that the group was homegrown, meaning the suspects were Canadian citizens, or long-time residents and had allegedly become radicalized.