Canadian terror suspects may be al Qaeda cell
CTV.ca News Staff
Immigration documents have revealed new details about a group of 19 suspected al Qaeda operatives and refugee claimants who were taken into custody in southern Ontario earlier this month.
RCMP investigators say the suspects may be part of an al Qaeda sleeper cell. There are allegations the men experimented with explosives and tried to find out the "measurements and schematics" of prominent buildings, including the CN Tower.
The suspects, one Indian man and 18 men from Punjab province in Pakistan, were detained Aug. 14 in an operation called Project Thread.
The men lived in separate clusters in and around the city of Toronto and its suburbs. An unusually high number of fire alarms at the apartment of one man led authorities to speculate he was experimenting with or making explosives in his kitchen.
Earlier reports claimed one of the detainees was a student at a flight school where he flew training flights over the Pickering nuclear power plant east of Toronto. Another man has been linked to a charity used as a front by al Qaeda.
The suspects all came to Canada between January 1998 and Sept. 5, 2001 on fraudulent student visas. They are linked by an association with the Ottawa Business College, a non-existent school whose director has admitted to selling false registration letters for $400 that allow foreigners to obtain student visas.
In an interview with CTV's Canada AM, a Toronto-based security expert said it was "inevitable" that there are al Qaeda operatives in Canada.
"We are a target, and we cannot afford to let our guard down," said Alan Bell of Globe Risk Security.
The case has outraged Toronto Muslims, who have denounced it as racial profiling.
While the evidence against the men is largely circumstantial, federal law permits the government to keep the suspects in custody.
Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the federal government can detain without charges any landed immigrant or foreign national who is considered to be a threat to national security.
Another round of detention review hearings will be held Wednesday for the men, who are in custody at the Maplehurst Correctional Centre in Milton, Ont., west of Toronto. They were denied bail at a hearing last week.
Not all of the suspects were represented by lawyers at detention hearings last week. Some of the men appeared confused by the charges, and offered to be voluntarily deported.
A lawyer representing the minister of citizenship and immigration said RCMP are sifting through "three van loads" of evidence, including computer hard drives, passports, identity documents, photographs, financial records and telephone bills.
Among those being held are: Muhammad Waheed, 23, Fahim Kayani, Imran Khan, 31, Sajjad Ahmad, Manzoor Qadar Joyia, 30, Yousaf Rasheed, Muhammad Asif Aziz, Kishif Siddique, 29, Mohammed Asif, Mohammad Akhtar, 30, Muhammad Waliu Sidiqui, Jahan Zaib Sawhney, Muhammad Naeem, Saif Ullah Khan, 41, and his brother Aqeel Ahmed.
With a report from The Canadian Press |
