"This group posed a real and serious threat," says senior RCMP officer

Jun. 3, 2006. 07:46 PM - JESSICA LEEDER, HAROLD LEVY AND STAN JOSEY - TORONTO STAR

Brampton Family members of some of the men facing terrorism-related charges - wives, mothers and fathers - met in the parking lot of a Brampton courthouse early this morning.

Standing behind a metal barricade police put up to seal off the court entrance, women dressed in burkas rubbed each other's backs to console one another.

"I think there are a lot of people here today who should not be involved in this," said Anser Farooq, a lawyer representing several of the accused. "I think they (the police) cast their net far too wide. We've been talking several lawsuits as a result of this action," he said.

Security at the Hurontario St. courthouse was high. More than two dozen local and provincial police officers were guarding the courthouse when the families arrived. Snipers wearing camouflage were posted on the roof of the main building and on the roof of an adjacent building that normally houses family court. Members of the Peel police tactical team tightly controlled traffic entering the parking lot, and an officer with a submachinegun was posted in front of a roundabout leading to the main entrance.

OPP bomb sniffing dogs were also on scene, and as early as 8 a.m., police could be seen traversing the hallways of the courthouse sweeping the building for explosives.

Pointing at snipers on the roof, Farooq, who would not name his clients, said: "This is ridiculous. They've got soldiers here with guns. This is going to completely change the atmosphere."

Families waiting at the courthouse finally got a chance to see the detainees when they were brought before a justice of the peace around 3:30 p.m.

Handcuffed to one another and wearing leg irons the detainees stood silently while the justice of the peace remanded them into custody until June 6 when they are scheduled to reappear.

Through their lawyers, some complained about the conditions where they were held Friday night and asked that they be given copies of the Qur'an while in custody.

Family members sitting on packed court benches bowed their heads and broke into tears, in some cases, when the detainees were brought into the courtroom.

The detainees were ordered not to communicate with each other or anyone else in the courtroom. Still, at least one female family member stood up and moved towards the prisoner's box.

"I want to see him," the woman said before she was sharply ordered to take her seat.

Pickering

Earlier, the Ajax Pickering police station turned into an armed fortress as the anti-terror squads used its underground cells to house 13 of the suspects awaiting their court appearances.

Local residents on their way to shop at the busy commercial corner of Brock Rd and Kingston Rds. yesterday came under the gaze of heavily armed officers guarding the station..

The action started at Pickering's 19 Division shortly after 7:30 p.m. Friday when officers from various police services and CSIS started bringing in people arrested in a major terrorism swoop across the GTA.

Dozens of officers, some in uniforms, some in the nondescript attire of undercover officers, watched as unmarked police vehicles ranging from mid-size cars to SUV's started bringing in suspects.

Late this morning, after one officer carried an armload of leg irons and handcuffs into the police station, the slow process of moving the suspects from Pickering to the Brampton courthouse began.

A big white prisoner transport vehicle, driven by a tactical unit officer, parked as close as possible to garage doors leading to the basement cellblock.

Then one by one, over a period of and hour and a half, the suspects, each flanked by two officers, shuffled out of the door and into a side door of the police truck.

Overhead a police helicopter kept an eye on the entire proceedings, as the suspects got a brief glimpse of the outdoors on a rainy morning.

Journalists, some of whom spent the night trading furtive glances with the tactical unit officers, from the post office parking lot strained to see and photograph the suspects as they made the short walk to the van.

All of the suspects appeared to be co-operating with police as they did the slow shuffle peculiar to people wearing leg shackles and handcuffs. Their faces showed no emotion.

Shortly before noon, after a total of 13 male suspects had been loaded and the prisoner transport van, accompanied by two truck loads of tactical unit officers, left the station and headed north on Brock Rd. to Highway 407.

Toronto

At a news conference earlier in the day, a CSIS official said a series of terrorist attacks plotted against unspecified targets in southern Ontario were "inspired by Al Qaeda," adding that the ring of suspects arrested posed a "real and serious" threat.

Three tonnes of ammonium nitrate, a commonly used fertilizer used to make explosives, were recovered by police, who say that's three times the amount used in the bombing of a government building in Oklahoma that killed 168 people.

"It was their intent to use it for a terrorist attack," RCMP assistant commissioner Mike McDonell told a news conference in Toronto.

"If I can put this in context for you, the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people was completed with only one tonne of ammonium nitrate." "This group posed a real and serious threat," he added. "It had the capacity and intent to carry out these acts."

A source who asked not to be named said information provided by U.S. officials played a part in the Canadian arrests.

An FBI affidavit alleges Amercians Syed Haris Ahmed and Ehsanul Islam Sadequee, both from the Atlanta region, travelled to Toronto in March 2005, meeting with others of interest to U.S. authorities.

The men supposedly discussed terrorist training and bomb plots against military facilities and oil refineries.

FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko said today there are apparent links between the two American visitors and the police sweep in Canada.

"There is preliminary indication that some of the Canadian subjects may have had limited contact with the two people recently arrested from Georgia," Kolko said in a statement. "As always, we will work with our international partners to review any intelligence gathered and will conduct any appropriate investigation."

In an interview, Kolko said the United States and Canada have been co-operating on this case for some time.

"We have established a working relationship with the Canadians in the prevention of terrorism. And it's common for us to share information on a routine basis."

The RCMP arrested and charged 12 men and another five people under the age of 18.

Of the adults, six are from Mississauga, four are from Toronto and two are from Kingston in the eastern part of the province.

Most were Canadian citizens or residents. Police described them as coming from a broad "strata" of society. Some are students, some are employed, some are unemployed. The adults range in age from 19 to 43.

Rocco Galati, lawyer for two of the Mississauga suspects, said Ahmad Ghany is a 21-year-old health sciences graduate from McMaster University in Hamilton. He was born in Canada, the son of a medical doctor who emigrated from Trinidad and Tobago in 1955.

Shareef Abdelhaleen is a 30-year-old unmarried computer programmer of Egyptian descent, Galati said. He emigrated from Egypt at the age of 10 with his father who is now an engineer on contract with Atomic Energy of Canada, the lawyer said.

In a statement, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the foiled plot and arrests showed Canada's security and intelligence measures worked "today."

"These individuals were allegedly intent on committing acts of terrorism against their own country and their own people," Harper said. "Canada is not immune to the threat of terrorism. Through the work and co-operation of the RCMP, CSIS, local law enforcement and Toronto's Integrated National Security Enforcement Team, acts of violence by extremist groups may have been prevented. "Today, Canada's security and intelligence measures worked. Canada's new government will pursue its efforts to ensure the national security of all Canadians."

The suspects were to appear in a Brampton court this afternoon, where the police presence was so intense it resembled an armed camp.

Police refused to say what the terror suspects considered targets, although officials ruled out the TTC.

The suspects were arrested Friday night in a massive sweep in co-operation with an Integrated National Security Enforcement Team, or INSET.

INSET teams are made up of members of the RCMP, CSIS, federal agencies such as the Canada Border Services Agency and Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and provincial and municipal police services.

Toronto Mayor David Miller said he was told by Police Chief Bill Blair several months ago that a suspected homegrown terror cell was being investigated.

"I was relieved that police had discovered the activities at a very early stage," he told a news conference. "I was relieved on behalf of Torontonians because I knew because of the police activities that if there was an actual threat they would be able to stop it before anything serious happened."

Luc Portelance, of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, said the suspects were all adherents of a violent ideology.

"For various reasons, they appear to have become adherents of a violent ideology inspired by Al Qaeda," Portelance said, although officials stressed there's no direct link between those charged to the terrorist network.

He also said he didn't believe the alleged plot had any relation to Canada's military role in Afghanistan.

The dramatic events raised the chilling prospect of a terrorist assault on Canadian soil - which authorities have feared since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S.

"This is the largest counter-terrorism operation and arrests in Canada since the creation of the Anti-Terrorism Act and the amendment of the Criminal Code to better define terrorism," Portelance said. "This operation in no way reflects negatively on any specific community or ethnocultural group in Canada. Terrorism is a dangerous ideology, and a global phenomenon. As yesterday's arrests demonstrate, Canada is not immune from this ideology."

John Thompson, a security specialist with the MacKenzie Institute, a Toronto-based think-tank, said the explosives seized by police would fuel up to three "truck bombs."

"That's enough for a really, really big truck bomb. Probably two or three of them," said Thompson. "So when the police said they weren't focused on the subway I believe them - you really can't use a truck bomb on a subway station. But if you're trying to collapse a building, a truck bomb is perfect for it," he said.

POSTED: 11:45 pm EDT June 3, 2006 TORONTO, Canada -- www.wsbtv.com

The FBI said Saturday there might be ties between 17 terror suspects in Canada and two men from Georgia.

The 17 suspects are jailed on charges of planning attacks on several targets in Ontario.

FBI officials say some of the Canadian suspects may have had limited contact with Georgia Tech student Syed Ahmed, 21, and Ehsanul Sadeqee, 19, of Roswell.

The two were arrested in April and a federal affidavit says they met with Islamic extremists in Canada last year.

Both have pleaded not guilty to federal charges.

The suspects in Canada include five teenagers. All are described as being influenced by al-Qaeda.

Authorities displayed items seized during the arrests. They included three tons of ammonium nitrate, triple the amount used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

Scott Shane / New York Times /detnews.com Nathan Denette / Canadian Press

Mohammhed Abdelhaleen, father of terrorist suspect Shareef Abdelhaleen, leaves a Brampton, Ontario, courthouse. Mounties reportedly delivered bomb materials in a sting sale to a suspected terror ring. Once the deal was done, police made arrests. See full image

Tighter border controls between the United States and Canada are likely to be less useful than better domestic intelligence and information-sharing in detecting homegrown terrorist plots in North America, experts on terrorism said Sunday.

While improved border technology and a planned requirement that Canadian visitors carry passports may help, there is no chance of stopping all potential terrorists from crossing a 4,000-mile border that includes huge swaths of forest and the Great Lakes, said John Brennan, former director of the National Counterterrorism Center.

"You don't want to paralyze the cross-border traffic and trade that's so important to both countries," Brennan, a former career CIA officer, said in an interview. Rather, he said, the lesson for the United States is the value of careful, patient intelligence collection to detect possible threats.

By the account of Canadian authorities, the suspected fertilizer bomb plot that led to the arrest Saturday in Ontario of 17 men, most of them Canadian citizens of South Asian origin, appeared to follow the pattern of successful terror attacks in Madrid, Spain, in 2004 and in London last year. As in those instances, officials said, those accused in the Canadian case are Muslims with no evident ties to leaders of al-Qaida overseas except a shared ideology.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice praised what she called Canada's "very great success in their counterterrorism efforts."

"We have excellent counterterrorism cooperation with Canada and we're very glad to see this operation being a success," Rice said on CNN's "Late Edition." "We don't know of any indication that there is a U.S. part to this, but by all means, we have the best possible cooperation."

The FBI said Saturday there were contacts between two of those arrested in Canada and two men living in Georgia who were recently arrested, Syed Haris Ahmed and Ehsanul Islam Sadequee. But the bureau reiterated in a statement Sunday "there is no current outstanding threat to any targets on U.S. soil emanating from this case."

Michael Cutler, a former veteran immigration agent now at the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, said relatively liberal political asylum rules in Canada for immigrants, combined with the relatively open border, is "a nightmare for the U.S."

But Cutler acknowledged the impossibility of sealing off the border with Canada and said better enforcement of immigration laws inside the United States may be more important than tighter entrance controls. "The bottom line is we can't just focus on the border," he said.

The Canadian arrests come amid an intense political debate over illegal immigration into the United States from Mexico. The news focused attention on the Canadian border, which is twice as long and much less patrolled than the Mexican border.

As part of the intelligence reorganization of 2004, Congress required that starting in 2008, Canadians must show a passport or a similarly secure document to enter the United States. But under legislation recently passed by the Senate and pending in the House, the requirement would be postponed until at least June 2009.

By Bernard Simon in Toronto - Published: June 4 2006 - FT.Com

Saturday morning was probably not the best time for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to urge the US to slow the implementation of tighter border controls on travellers from Canada.

The chances of Washington heeding that call – already low – had been diminished a few hours earlier when Canadian police arrested 17 people on suspicion of plotting a series of terror attacks against targets in heavily populated southern Ontario.

The arrests, one of the biggest anti-terrorism operations in north America since the terror attacks of September 2001, are likely to fan debate in Canada on several other emotive issues, notably immigration and the presence of 2,000 Canadian troops in Afghanistan.

Friday's operation is also sure to provoke closer public scrutiny of the country's rapidly growing Muslim community. While the men arrested on Friday were Canadian residents, several were immigrants from countries as diverse as Egypt, Somalia and Trinidad.

In line with a generally tolerant attitude towards immigrants, Canadian Muslims have until now faced little of the backlash that has followed attacks in the US and Europe.

"It's a wake-up call to the Canadian state and the Muslim community, because it's a reflection of failure on all our parts," Tarek Fatah, communications director for the Muslim Canadian Congress, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Toronto's mayor, David Miller, added that "we need to do some work to find out how people would be sucked into this kind of activity".

Police alleged the arrested men were arranging delivery of three tonnes of ammonium nitrate and enough other bomb-making equipment to blow up several large buildings. Ammonium nitrate, normally used as fertiliser, can be turned into a crude bomb.

The Toronto Star reported on Sunday that the ammonium was supplied by the authorities as part of a "sting" operation.

The police refused to identify the group's intended targets, but said they were all in Canada. Local media reports have mentioned Toronto's landmark CN Tower, offices of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), and the parliament buildings in Ottawa

The men, including five under 18, have been charged under an anti-terror law passed in late 2001.

The law has so far been used against only one person, Mohammad Momin Khawaja, an Ottawa software specialist, who is awaiting trial for alleged connections to a UK terror group. Several other people are being held without charge in Canada.

US officials have been concerned for some time that Canada's relatively relaxed immigration and asylum rules could make it a staging ground for terror groups.

An Algerian-born man, Ahmed Ressam, is serving a 22-year sentence in the US for planning to detonate a suitcase bomb at Los Angeles International Airport during millennium celebrations in 1999. Mr Ressam was detained when he entered Washington state from Canada in a car containing explosives and timing devices.

Mr Fatah said that several of those arrested on Friday attended a small mosque in Mississauga, a Toronto suburb. The oldest member of the group, Qayyum Abdul Jamal, 43, was the mosque's imam. CSIS said that the men were followers of a "violent ideology inspired by al-Qaeda".

Large numbers of immigrants, especially from south Asia, have moved into the Toronto area over the past decade. Most have been allowed to enter Canada under a controversial family reunification provision.

The Liberal party, which formed the government from 1993 until earlier this year, has built a strong constituency in these communities.

The new minority Conservative government has retreated from earlier plans to tighten immigration laws. The prime minister, Stephen Harper, said on Saturday that "we are a target because of who we are and how we live". But pressure is sure to increase on the government to make Canada a less welcoming target after the weekend's events.

David Friend Canadian Press Monday, June 05, 2006 TORONTO (CP) - Canada.com

After the arrests of 17 Toronto-area terror suspects on Friday, analysts suggest it's unlikely there will be a chill on foreign investment into the country and little or no significant fallout on the economy.

There are other more pressing issues dragging down the economy and the investment climate in manufacturing - from the high dollar and rising energy costs to higher raw material costs - said Daniel Charron chairman of the Quebec Manufacturers and Exporters.

Charron said Canada must remain conscious of potential terror attacks within the country, but other financial and economic factors, which experts say have contributed to the loss of 100,000 manufacturing jobs in the last year or so - are more significant right now.

"We still have to be vigilant not only for our economy but we have to be vigilant because we also have to consider other uncertainties that are already there for investment," he said.

Richard Fahey of the Quebec chapter of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, said stopping potential terrorists is essential because a successful attack would have devastating results.

The 2001 terror attacks dragged down the general North American economy for months and battered the airline and travel industries for far longer.

But Fahey said taxation, regulation and the cost of labour are key issues that face the economy.

"I don't think right now the investment climate would be affected" by the latest terror charges, he said.

The opinion that terror would have minimal effect is partly due to the social climate, said Rick Egelton, deputy chief economist at the Bank of Montreal.

"We've been living with the threat of terrorism in a pretty high-profile way since Sept. 11," he said.

Egelton suggested that even a successful terrorist attack wouldn't have a significant market impact today. He pointed to the Madrid bombings in Spain two years ago as an example of markets and investors rebounding quickly from a major terrorist attack.

The terror bombings in downtown London last year also saw markets recover quickly from the initial shock.

"You typically see markets bounce back within a few days," Egelton said.

The long-term reaction of Toronto's business community to the potential terrorism will be revealed over the next few weeks, suggests Michael Books, executive director of the Real Property Association of Canada.

"If this becomes a pattern and more arrests are made, it won't be long before lenders start saying 'You know what? Maybe I'll require terrorism insurance on your building before I let you have a mortgage on it," he said.

Brooks said that terror fears could also lead Toronto companies - incluiding TSX Group, (TSX:X) which owns Canada's national stock exchanges - to beef up building security.

"If they regard this as the thin edge of a new wedge, then I could see things changing a little bit . . . (Canada) becoming a little more like the US."

The more positive effects of the arrests could be felt at border crossings, especially by truckers, said Len Crispino, president of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce.

He said the work of Toronto police in monitoring potential terrorist threats will probably increase the confidence of U.S. authorities in Canadian security and could speed up traffic at the border.

The long delays at many Canada-U.S border points has been cited for costing the Canadian economy millions of dollars in lost productivity, output and trade, critics say.

"To the extent that the U.S. now sees that we're able to deal with these issues, that will certainly help us make the border more efficient and effective," he said.

Whether Friday's arrests will influence cross-border tourism remains to be seen. An estimate on the number of Americans travelling into Canada on Monday was not available from the National Chamber of Commerce.

On Parliament Hill, one of the locations believed to be a possible target of the detained suspects, an employee said she hadn't noticed a drop in the number of tourists.

"There must've been at least a hundred people waiting in the line to get into the building," she said, requesting anonymity.

The employee added that those numbers were surprising for a Monday afternoon in June.

Tourism Toronto, also maintained a positive outlook.

When asked whether the agency thought tourism would decline in the wake of the arrests, the board congratulated police and said the city will remain "a safe place to live, work and visit."

Web Editor: Rhonda Erskine, Online Content Producer

Updated: 6/5/2006 6:28:51 PM - wcsh6.com

Canadian police reportedly delivered several tons of fertilizer that can be used to make explosives to a group allegedly planning a string of terror attacks.

The Toronto Star says police then moved in and made 17 arrests in what they say was a homegrown terror ring inspired by al-Qaida.

Meantime, Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair has told Islamic leaders that the arrest of 17 terrorist suspects shouldn't be seen as an accusation against Islam or Muslims in general.

Muslim clerics at the Islamic Foundation of Toronto told Blair that they fear that Canadians will now view Islam as supportive of terrorism. They noted that a Toronto mosque was vandalized overnight, with 25 windows and three doors smashed.

But one cleric said that if the suspects are found guilty, it will be a wake-up call to teach young Muslims that killing innocent people isn't true Islam.

* No evidence suspects planned to attack US

Daily Times - Site Edition - Monday, June 05, 2006 By Khalid Hasan WASHINGTON:

The three tonnes of ammonium nitrate found with the Totonto terrorism suspects was planted by the police in an elaborate sting operation.

According to Toronto Star, "Sources say investigators who had learned of the group's alleged plan to build a bomb were controlling the sale and transport of the massive amount of fertiliser, a key component in creating explosives. Once the deal was done, the RCMP-led anti-terrorism task force moved in for the arrests." At the news conference held by the police, there was no mention of the sting operation. Among the intended targets of the group, one report said, was the Parliament in Ottawa and the headquarters of Canada's premier spy agency.

The 12 adults charged are: Fahim Ahmad, 21; Jahmaal James, 23; Amin Mohamed Durrani, 19; and Steven Vikash Chand, 25, all of Toronto; Zakaria Amara, 20; Asad Ansari, 21; Shareef Abdelhaleen, 30; Ahmad Mustafa Ghany, 21; Saad Khalid, 19; and Qayyum Abdul Jamal, 43, all of Mississauga; and Mohammed Dirie, 22 and Yasin Abdi Mohamed, 24. Six of the 12 suspects lived in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, four came from Toronto and two from the town of Kingston in Ontario. The last two are already in custody on a gun smuggling charge.

The police also arrested five youngsters but their identities or names have not bee made public. At a court hearing in Toronto on Saturday, all the suspects were produced and Canadian newspapers published photographs of head-to-toe, black burqa clad group of women said to belong to the one or more of the families of the men arrested. One whose face was visible looked like a Pakistani. Several of the men, photographed as they were being brought in police cars, were bearded.

The charges include participating in or contributing to the activity of a terrorist group, including training and recruitment; providing or making available property for terrorist purposes; and the commission of indictable offences, including firearms and explosives offences for the benefit of or in association with a terrorist group.

According to the Toronto Star report, "Anser Farooq, a lawyer who represents five of the accused, pointed at snipers on the roof of the courthouse and said, "This is ridiculous. They've got soldiers here with guns. This is going to completely change the atmosphere. I think the police cast their net far too wide," he said.

According to the Globe and Mail, defence lawyer Rocco Galati, who was representing some of the suspects, protested the intense security measures at the court. Galati later scoffed at the allegations. "I've seen fertiliser for the last eight years," he said.

Aly Hindy, a Toronto imam, said he knew several of the accused because they prayed at his mosque but said they were not terrorists. "The charges are to keep George Bush happy, that's all," he added sardonically. The Globe and Mail did not mention that all incriminating evidence had been planted on the suspects.

AP adds: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said there was no indication that the arrested were trying to plan an attack in the United States. "We certainly don't believe that there's any link to the United States, but obviously we will follow up," said Rice. "I think we will get whatever information we need," she said. "But it's obviously a great success for the Canadians. They're to be congratulated for it."

06 June 2006 OTTAWA: www.stuff.co.nz Qayyum Abdul Jamal, the eldest of the 17 men arrested in Canada's home-grown terror case, was an unimpressive "idiot" who alleged Canadian troops were in Afghanistan to rape Muslim women, a local legislator said today.

Jamal, 43, was charged yesterday with planning to cause a deadly explosion and could face life in prison if found guilty. He was a volunteer at the Ar-Rahman Islamic Centre in Mississauga, Ontario, west of Toronto, and sometimes lectured there.

Wajid Khan, the Liberal legislator for the local parliamentary constituency, said he had been invited to speak at the centre about a year ago.

Jamal, who was leading the prayers that day, was supposed to make brief comments introducing Khan to the congregation.

"He said they (the Canadian troops) are in Afghanistan to rape Muslim women," Khan said by telephone from Mississauga.

"I just got up right away and I pushed him aside and started to address the crowd and criticised him for talking nonsense. People agreed with me, that this was bullshit." At the time of the incident, Canada had a large contingent of troops in the Afghan capital Kabul. There are now 2300 Canadian soldiers in the southern city of Kandahar.

Khan said he had been told that angry members of the congregation later confronted Jamal outside the center and "kind of roughed him up" to show their displeasure.

"I just figured he was another one of the disgruntled Canadians who is not happy with troops being in Afghanistan. Half the country didn't like the idea, so I thought that this is just an idiot trying to be a hero," he said.

Khan said he had had nothing more to do with the center or Jamal.

"Then I saw his picture in the news and his name and (I thought) 'holy cow' and then all hell broke loose." Members of the congregation told local media that Jamal had been a mentor figure to several teenagers who are also among the accused, something Khan said he found hard to grasp.

"It's very disturbing. I'm struggling with the whole of the idea of how the hell that this guy - who is very ordinary. . . he's not a fiery speaker, his command of the language is piss-poor: is he really the guy who has brainwashed these other teenagers or he is just a contact guy?" he said.

Sayyid Mohamed Syeed, the secretary general of the Islamic Society of North America, said some Muslims who immigrated to Canada were not as well educated as their US counterparts and tended to stick with members of their ethnic community.

Anthony Depalma / New York Times News Service - MISSISSAUGA, Ontario --

At least six of the 17 people arrested by Canadian authorities in a counterterrorism operation over the weekend, including the group's alleged leader, attended the same storefront mosque, fellow worshippers said Sunday.

The mosque, the Al-Rahman Islamic Centre for Islamic Education, is one of the few clues that in any way link the 17 suspects -- 12 adults and five youths -- arrested in one of the biggest anti-terrorism actions in North America since September 11.

The eldest of those arrested, Qayyum Abdul Jamal, 43, was described by several acquaintances as an active member of the mosque who frequently led prayers, made fiery speeches and influenced young people who attended the services.

Faheem Bukhari, a director of the Mississauga Muslim Community Center who sometimes attended prayers at the Al-Rahman mosque, said Jamal never openly embraced violence or talked about al-Qaida, but was "very vocal and I believe could incite these young kids for jihad."

But the lack of detail about the alleged plot has started to raise questions here about the credibility of the charges.

"People are suspicious and there's anger," said Aly Hindy, imam at the Salaheddin Islamic Centre in Scarborough, a city east of Toronto with a sizable Muslim community. "We are being targeted not because of what we've done, but because of who we are and what we believe in."

By BETH DUFF-BROWN Associated Press Writer BRAMPTON, Ontario (AP) --

At least one member of a group of terror suspects plotted to storm Canada's parliament and behead officials, including the prime minister, if Muslim prisoners in Canada and Afghanistan were not released, according to charges made public Tuesday.

Authorities also alleged that Steven Vikash Chand plotted to take over media outlets such as the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

"There's an allegation apparently that my client personally indicated that he wanted to behead the prime minister of Canada," attorney Gary Batasar said. "It's a very serious allegation. My client has said nothing about that."

Chand is a 25-year-old restaurant worker from Toronto. Charges were expected to be read against at least some of the other suspects Tuesday.

Batasar spoke outside the courthouse, where bail hearings for 10 of the 17 suspects were postponed.

He said the charges were based on fear-mongering by government officials.

"It appears to me that whether you're in Ottawa or Toronto or Crawford, Texas, or Washington, D.C., what is wanting to be instilled in the public is fear," he said.

The Ontario Court of Justice in Brampton, a small city just west of Toronto, said Monday the suspects faced charges including participating in a terrorist group, importing weapons and planning a bombing. Details of the charges were not made public until Tuesday.

Police expect more arrests and intelligence officers are probing possible ties between the Canadian suspects - 12 men and five teenagers - and Islamic terror cells in six nations, including the United States.

"We've by no means finished this investigation," Mike McDonell, deputy commissioner for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, told the AP. "In fact, you might look at it that, really, we're just starting with the arrests. We have a responsibility to follow every lead."

McDonell said Monday that there are "foreign connections," but he would not elaborate.

A U.S. law enforcement official said investigators were looking for connections between those detained in Canada and suspected Islamic militants held in the United States, Britain, Bangladesh, Bosnia, Denmark and Sweden.

U.S. authorities have established that two men from Georgia who were charged this year in a terrorism case had been in contact with some of the Canadian suspects via computer, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing.

The U.S. Border Patrol put agents on high alert along the 4,000-mile border and stepped up inspections of traffic from Canada.

A Muslim leader who knew the oldest suspect, 43-year-old Qayyum Abdul Jamal, told The Associated Press that his sermons at a local mosque were "filled with hate" against Canada.

Canadian police say there is no evidence the suspect group had ties to al-Qaida, but describe its members as sympathetic to jihadist ideology. Officials are concerned that many of the 17 suspects were about 20 years old and had been radicalized in a short amount of time.

Officials announced Saturday that the suspects were arrested after the group acquired three tons of ammonium nitrate, which can be mixed with fuel oil to make a powerful explosive. One-third that amount was used in the deadly bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995.

"It came to a point where our concern for the safety and security of the public far outweighed our appetite for collecting evidence," said McDonell, the RCMP deputy commissioner.

Some people who know the suspects said they were astonished by the arrests.

But Faheem Bukhari, a director of the Mississauga Muslim Community Center, said Jamal, the oldest suspect, gave hateful, intolerant sermons to young Muslims at a storefront mosque in Mississauga, a city near Toronto where six of the suspects lived.

"These youth were very fun-loving guys, soccer-loving guys, and then all of sudden they were not associating with guys they used to," Bukhari said, referring to the younger suspects.

"People around him knew he was very extreme," Bukhari said, adding that Jamal once told "the audience that the Canadian Forces were going to Afghanistan to rape women."

Canada has about 2,300 soldiers in southern Afghanistan to bolster Afghan reconstruction and combat Taliban militants.

The adult suspects all are charged with one count of participating in a terrorist group.

Three of them - Fahim Ahmad, 21, Mohammed Dirie, 22, and Yasim Abdi Mohamed, 24 - also are charged with importing weapons and ammunition for the purpose of terrorist activity.

Nine face charges of receiving training from a terrorist group, while four are charged with providing training. Six are charged with intending to cause an explosion that could cause serious bodily harm or death.

No information was released on the five teenagers due to privacy laws that protect minors.

Associated Press reporters Mark Sherman and Katherine Shrader in Washington contributed to this report.