Americas News
17 arrested in Canada anti-terror sweep (Roundup)
By DPA
Jun 3, 2006, 19:00 GMT

Washington/Toronto - Canadian police took 17 people into custody on terrorism-related charges in a series of raids and arrests in the Toronto area, a police spokesman reported Saturday.

The arrests were linked to an alleged bomb plot in the province of Ontario by a group influenced by the al-Qaeda terrorist network, the spokesman said.

According the spokesman, the men arrested were in the process of building an explosion device from three tonnes of ammonium nitrate.

Only one tonne of ammonium nitrate was used in the 1995 terrorist attack on the US city of Oklahoma City that killed 168 people, the spokesman added for purposes of comparison.

The suspects were described as Canadians of various origins.

Friday's anti-terror sweep appeared to be Canada's most concerted since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, according to reports.

More than 100 officers of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were involved in the sweep, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported.