Americas News
US suspects linked to Canada terrorism case through web chats
By DPA
Jun 5, 2006, 19:00 GMT

Washington/Toronto - Some of the 17 people held on terrorism charges by Canadian police may have had contacts with terror suspects in custody in the US, according to internet chat room conversations monitored by US and Canadian intelligence, media reports said Monday.

The connection goes back as far as late 2004, when the Canadian Security Intelligence Service began monitoring talks of possible targets - including Canadian government buildings and US oil refineries - between the Canadian group and two Americans from Atlanta, Georgia, the Toronto Star reported.

Syed Haris Ahmed and Ehsanul Islam Sadequee were arrested last year and are awaiting trial on terrorism charges in the US.

Canadian police took 17 people into custody on terrorism-related charges in a series of raids and arrests in the Toronto area late Friday evening.

The arrests were linked to an alleged bomb plot in the province of Ontario by a group influenced by the al-Qaeda terrorist network, police said at a press conference revealing the raids on Saturday.

On Sunday, one of Toronto\'s largest mosques was damaged in an apparent reaction to the uncovered plot. About 30 windows and one door were smashed but nobody injured in the attack on the mosque, which is home to the Canadian branch of the International Muslims Organization.

Police said the men arrested Friday night were in the process of building an explosive device from three tonnes of ammonium nitrate.

According to the Toronto Star, federal agents intercepted the group\'s order for the ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer. After switching the fertilizer with a harmless powder, police made the delivery themselves and arrested the group after a deal was done.

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

The suspects were described as Canadians of various origins.