Friday, August 27, 2010

Muslim Canadian Congress VP says discovery of terrorists in Canada, "a sad reflection on the Muslim community"

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3 arrested in Canada Wednesday 8/25 for conspiring to commit terrorism. "Alizadeh, Ahmed and Sher were arrested following a year-long investigation by the RCMP... and several police forces across the country."..."This "large amount of terrorist documentation and manuals" demonstrates that the suspects "intended to construct an explosive device or explosive devices for terrorist purposes," said (RCMP Superintendent) Therriault.
  • Police also said they had evidence a member of the cell had received bomb-making training abroad, but they did not specify which suspect or where and when the training allegedly took place.

"There's a growing concern about radicalization inside Canada, (about) home-grown terrorism," Public Safety Minister Vic Toews commented.

  • It "is a phenomena that we have seen in many Western democracies and it's a relatively new phenomena that we must be very vigilant about," he said.

The Muslim Canadian Congress expressed "shock" at the arrests.

  • "The disclosure of this new terror cell is a
  • sad reflection on the Muslim community," said congress vice president Salma Siddiqui. "Four years after the Toronto 18 terror arrests,
  • we are back to square one."

The separate Toronto 18 group of plotters allegedly sought to purchase three tonnes of the bomb-making ingredient ammonium nitrate from undercover police officers, who had switched it with an inert substance.

  • The last two members of the group arrested in 2006 were found guilty in June of terrorism charges.

Nine other members of the group were previously convicted in the conspiracy, which was aimed at provoking a Canadian withdrawal from Afghanistan.

  • Charges were dropped against seven others.
The Toronto Star reported that Sher, a Canadian-born physician and graduate of McGill University in Montreal, had auditioned in 2008 for the television talent show "Canadian Idol."
  • Dressed in a traditional shalwar kameez and a pakul hat, Sher appears in a YouTube video of the audition performing Michael Jackson's famed moonwalk and a robot dance for the judges.

Ahmed reportedly worked as an X-ray technician at an Ottawa hospital and lived with his wife and child.

  • Little, however, was revealed about Alizadeh."
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