Ottawa terror plot had al-Qaeda links: police

Two men in custody; more arrests expected

By Ian MacLeod, The Ottawa Citizen; With files from the National Post and Agence France-Presse August 26, 2010

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Investigators remove computers and other evidence from an Ottawa townhome at 91 Esterlawn Pvt. on Wednesday after an early morning raid, which was part of Project Samosa, an investigation into a suspected al-Qaeda terrorist plot.

Photograph by: Julie Oliver, The Ottawa Citizen, The Ottawa Citizen; With files from the National Post and Agence France-Presse

An alleged al-Qaeda bomb plot hatched in Ottawa over the past two years has been dismantled by counter-terrorism police.

Two people were arrested without incident Wednesday on undisclosed terrorism-related charges after RCMP and Ottawa police armed with a search warrant converged on a townhouse at 91 Esterlawn Pvt., near the Carlingwood Mall in Ottawa, at about 7 a.m. A simultaneous and similar low-key raid took place at a highrise apartment at 220 Woodridge Cres. in the Bayshore area.

There were indications Wednesday night that further searches might take place, including in Gatineau.

The suspects' identities and details about the alleged jihadist plot are to be released at an RCMP news conference this afternoon. An RCMP spokesman would only say the accusations are "very serious."

Sources close to the investigation, "Project Samosa," said the suspected ringleader allegedly attended terrorist training camps in the Pakistan and Afghanistan region, leading investigators to believe the alleged plot may have links to al-Qaeda or one of its regional affiliates.

The National Post reports the bomb plot was described as not well defined, and the arrests were apparently made because one of the suspects was preparing to travel abroad. It is not clear if a specific target or targets had been selected or whether the alleged plot had matured to an operational stage.

Police expect to make more arrests, suggesting a group or network, similar to the 2006 "Toronto 18" case, in which 11 people were eventually convicted for plotting to bomb major public and government sites and services in and around Toronto. That conspiracy was aimed at provoking Canada's withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Questions now turn to the origin, scope and planning of the alleged plot. Also to be determined are the backgrounds and roles of the accused, whether they're "homegrown," self-radicalized extremists with little or no training, skilled operatives affiliated with and financed by the global terror network, or secondary players providing logistics and material support. Increasingly, the primary jihadist threat to the West emanates from regional Islamist groups and grassroots followers.

Canada's top national security officials have issued repeated, but purposely vague warnings over the past year about the threat violent extremism poses within Canada and from Canadian jihadists operating abroad. Public Safety Minister Vic Toews recently delivered a speech about his increasing concern over the radicalization taking place in Canada.

At the same time, persistent rumours have circulated for months about a major counter-terrorism operation centred on the nation's capital and involving the RCMP's Ottawa-based Integrated National Security Enforcement Team, including investigators from Ottawa police and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

The spy agency recently revealed it is tracking more than 200 individuals in Canada with possible links to as many as 50 terrorist groups.

Police hauled several computer hard drives and what appeared to be a photo or document scanner from the Esterlawn home at about 2:15 p.m. Wednesday.

Earlier, they removed a blue Mazda registered to Misbahuddin Ahmed, 36. Court records show he was ticketed for speeding in March 2009 on the Ottawa River Parkway. At the time, he was living at 220 Woodridge Cres.

"He seemed like a nice young guy," said Robert Farrell, who rents the Esterlawn property to Ahmed, his wife, and their daughter, about six months old. "They seemed to be more of a traditional Muslim family."

Farrell, a former Canadian diplomat who had been stationed in the Middle East, recalled Ahmed saying he was born in India, but had lived for a time in Saudi Arabia.

Ahmed, who works as an X-ray technician at the Civic campus of The Ottawa Hospital, rented the home about a year ago, after responding to an ad Farrell placed on an online rental site.

Farrell said he carefully checked Ahmed's references in the application and called the hospital to verify.

"His immediate supervisor gave him a very high recommendation. She said he was a very stable and very steady and a reliable employee," Farrell said.

Guy Morency, The Ottawa Hospital's director of diagnostic imaging, said Ahmed started at the hospital in 2008 and worked as a general radiography technologist.

As an employee, Morency said there was nothing bad to say about him.

"He was a very good, reliable technologist," said Morency. "As an employee, he did his job very well, got along well with his colleagues."

Farrell's wife believes Ahmed, who appeared to be in his late 30s or early 40s, and thin with a full, long beard, had been in Canada for several years and previously lived in the Bayshore area.

He said he also lived in Montreal for a time.

Neighbour Janice Burtt said the man and woman who lived in the house were quiet and, "that nothing seemed too out of the ordinary." Other people noted the woman wore a niqab or burqa.

At the highrise on Woodridge, one tenant said police entered Apt. 702.

Another tenant said she was friends with a couple in their 20s or 30s, believed to be living in that unit.

They "were really nice people. ... They were really friendly."

The tenant would not offer additional details, or disclose her own name.

One floor below, tenant Sean Norlock recalled that a few weeks ago his girlfriend saw men in robes, with beards and a type of "cone" hat, near the elevator.

When she tried to enter the elevator, the men told her to take the stairs instead, he said.

She returned to her apartment and informed Norlock, who went to the seventh floor to confront the group, then watched as five men exited an apartment on the seventh floor, near Apt. 702.

"To me, they look suspicious. Something was up," he said, explaining the men wouldn't look him in the eye or tell him what they had been doing on the sixth floor.

Coming on the heels of a failed Times Square bombing in New York City and a shooting at the U.S. military base in Fort Hood, Texas, experts speculate this latest alleged plot may have been an attempt by western affiliates of al-Qaeda or a homegrown cell inspired by its jihadist ideology to strike at targets in North America.

"There is substantial evidence from cases in the U.K. and the E.U. that various so-called homegrown groups do demonstrate a connection to an al-Qaeda centre in areas of doctrine, strategy, tactics and target selection," said Prof. Martin Rudner, a retired Carleton University terrorism expert.

And it will be no surprise if Ottawa is revealed to have been an intended target.

"There's a tradition on the jihadist side of seeking a presence in Ottawa," Rudner said, referring to suspected terrorists held under security certificates and to the case involving Momin Khawaja, an Ottawa man convicted of a role in plotting to bomb public sites in and around London, England.

"We know from operational history that capital cities tend to get targeted."

The police project is said to have placed an enormous strain on RCMP surveillance and technological resources at a time when the federal police were coping with the Vancouver Winter Olympics and the G8 and G20 summits of world leaders. Case managers were supposedly told funding for surveillance and electronic eavesdropping would end around June.

Around the same time, two federal prosecutors who specialize in terrorism cases were seen at a site used by the investigators, fuelling speculation the probe was moving into a new phase.

Anthony Seaboyer, head of the proliferation security research group at Queen's University's Centre for International Relations, called the arrests "a great success" for Canadian anti-terrorism forces. "It shows that the RCMP, Ottawa police and CSIS can actually co-operate effectively," Seaboyer said.

Given the scathing criticism of how authorities handled the Air India bombing, "this is a good sign," he said.

"Canada is moving more and more away from being a safe haven for terrorist organizations."

It is impossible to know how many terrorism cells are active in Canada, Seaboyer said. He said Canada is becoming more of a target for terrorists who want to use attacks on Canadian facilities, such as Quebec's hydro-electric plants and transmission lines, to harm the U.S.

"There are ways of attacking the U.S. through Canada. The whole energy (supply) for New York comes from Quebec, for example."

Ottawa defence lawyer Samir Adam met for more than half an hour with one of the accused at Ottawa police headquarters on Elgin Street early Wednesday, but had not been officially retained as counsel as of late Wednesday afternoon.

Adam would not disclose what the two discussed but said the accused are to appear in court today.

Story reported by Kristy Nease, Glen McGregor, Meghan Hurley, Don Butler, Chris Cobb, Gary Dimmock, Jennifer Pagliaro and Jennifer Green.