Canadian police say they have arrested two men and thwarted a plot to carry out a major terrorist attack on a Via passenger train in the Greater Toronto Area.The two accused are Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, of Montreal, and Raed Jaser, 35, from Toronto. They have been charged with conspiracy to carry out a terrorist attack and "conspiring to murder persons unknownn for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a terrorist group."The two men arrested are not Canadian citizens, police said Monday, but would not provide any details about their nationalities.The RCMP accused the two men of conspiring to commit an "al-Qaeda-supported" attack.Police said the two accused were getting "direction and guidance" from al-Qaeda elements in Iran. There was no information to suggest the attacks were state sponsored, police said.Chief Supt. Jennifer Strachan said the two suspects watched trains and railways in the Greater Toronto Area. There was a specific route targeted, not necessarily a specific train, Strachan said, although she declined to reveal which route was allegedly being targeted."We are alleging that these two individuals took steps and conducted activities to initiate a terrorist attack," she told reporters.Strachan said the attack was in the planning state but "not imminent."In a statement, RCMP said while they believe the individuals accused had the "capacity and intent" to carry out an attack, they believed there was "no imminent threat" to the public, rail employees, train passengers or infrastructure.The two men are expected to appear at Old City Hall courthouse in Toronto tomorrow.Had this plot been carried out, it would have resulted in innocent people being killed or seriously injured, RCMP assistant Commissioner Jammies Malizia told reporters on Monday.Police said the investigation was ongoing, but declined to provide details.Highly placed sources tell CBC News the alleged plotters have been under surveillance for more than a year in Quebec and southern Ontario.The investigation was part of a cross-border operation involving Canadian law enforcement agencies, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.According to a Reuters report, U.S. law enforcement and national security sources said the alleged plot targeted a railroad between Toronto and New York City.The arrests Monday morning were co-ordinated and executed by a special joint task force of RCMP and CSIS anti-terrorism units, combined with provincial and municipal police forces in Ontario and Quebec.Law enforcement officials say the terror suspects arrested today have no connection to the two brothers accused of last week's Boston Marathon bombings.They also say there is no tie to the former London, Ont., high school friends who joined al-Qaeda and died earlier this year while helping to stage a bloody attack on an Algerian gas refinery.

Alleged plot recalls Toronto 18 case

Sources say the alleged plot disrupted by Monday's arrests was potentially more dangerous than the bombings and hostage-takings planned by the so-called Toronto 18.
Police have made a number of arrests in southern Ontario and Quebec following a joint operation between Canadian and U.S. authorities.Police have made a number of arrests in southern Ontario and Quebec following a joint operation between Canadian and U.S. authorities. (CBC)That plot was broken up in the summer of 2006, when police arrested 18 people in a massive anti-terrorism sweep in southern Ontario.Eleven of the 18 were subsequently convicted of aiding the group in various plots, ranging from blowing up the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill and the Toronto Stock Exchange with trucks laden with explosives to beheading the prime minister and other politicians.The group never got a chance to execute any of its plans before being arrested when one of its members took delivery of what they thought were three tonnes of explosive fertilizer to be used in truck bombs. Undercover agents had replaced the shipment with harmless chemicals.Four are serving sentences of 18 years to life in prison, while the other seven received terms ranging from 30 months to just over seven years.More recently, three Canadian citizens were arrested in August, 2010 — two Ottawa men and a London, Ont. doctor — and charged with knowingly facilitating a terrorist activity.One of them, Hiva Alizadeh, was also charged with possession of more than 50 circuit boards allegedly to be used as remote detonators for bombs.The cases involving those three have yet to go to court. 

Tories use Boston bombing to speed up vote on counter-terrorism bill

STEVEN CHASE
OTTAWA — The Globe and Mail
Last updated
The Conservative have cleared time in their legislative agenda Monday and Tuesday to conduct third-reading debate on S-7, legislation that would authorize police to pre-emptively detain Canadians and hold them for up to three days without charging them.The bill would also allow authorities to imprison a Canadian for up to 12 months if they refuse to answer questions posed by a judge in what are called investigative hearings.
The Conservatives want to use the debate to highlight their get-tough approach on terrorism.“The horrific bomb blasts at the Boston Marathon and the terrifying aftermath that crippled the city have again demonstrated what terrorists strives for: the deliberate infliction of death or suffering upon innocents to further some misguided cause,” Candice Bergen, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety, said in speaking to the legislation in the Commons.“I hope, as I am sure all members of this House hope, that Canada will never suffer as Boston has suffered last week. What we can hope, however, is that if Canada does become a target of terrorism, we will act as Bostonians have done and show the world that fear will not define us.”The legislation would also make it a federal crime to leave, or try to leave, Canada for the purpose of committing terrorism or attending a terrorist training camp.“These new offences and the penalties for these offences would send a strong signal that such conduct is unacceptable,” explained Ms. Bergen.The Conservative majority in the Commons will be able to pass this legislation despite opposition and the bill is also supported by Justin Trudeau’s Liberals.S-7 was introduced in the Senate in early 2012 and passed third reading in the Senate in May 2012. It’s slowly moved through the Commons since and is at third reading now.The NDP is the only major party in the Commons opposing S-7, alleging the measures it resurrects have “proved unnecessary and ineffective” in the past.York-South Weston NDP MP Mike Sullivan argued that Canada is going to far and offered his warning on how the new “preventative detention provisions” might work.“This was in a previous act and never used,” Mr. Sullivan said. “Police have managed without this measure to stop terrorists.”He offered a example of what he fears.“I like to refer to good old Uncle Alberta in Moose Jaw whose nephew for whatever reason is suspected of some kind of terrorist act,” he said.
“Because they can’t find the nephew, the police come to Uncle Albert’s door and put him in jail, for a day,” the MP said.“Then [they] take him before a judge and argue that Uncle Albert might know where the nephew is so we can’t let Uncle Albert have any more guns. We can’t let Uncle Albert leave the country because we have to be able to interrogate Uncle Albert in Moose Jaw, who’s done nothing. The police don’t suspect him of any terrorism. He just happens to be the uncle of the nephew whom they do suspect.”
The Conservatives said there will be careful protections against indiscriminate use of these detention provisions.Mr. Sullivan said he doesn’t trust these provisions.“So then what happens? Uncle Albert ... because he’s from Moose Jaw, and because he’s a farmer and because he’s gotta keep the varmints off his property, [he says] ‘I can’t give up my firearms. I am not giving up my firearms. I refuse.’”“[So they] put him in jail for up to 12 months. That’s the kind of thing that could happen to Uncle Albert in Moose Jaw who has absolutely no terrorist inclination whatsoever. But because he’s related to somebody the police are only investigating. Because they suspect there might be some kind of terrorist activity, Uncle Albert is put in jail for up to 12 months.“That’s not the Canada I want to be a part of,” Mr. Sullivan said.“Part of [our] rights and freedoms is to have the right and freedom to not be imprisoned without a conviction, without a trial.”“That goes too far.”Ms. Bergen said however there are safeguards in the bill. “The investigative hearing and the recognizance with conditions have several due process guarantees built into them and require annual reporting on their use by all governments, federal and provincial governments.”