“Canada thwarts ‘al Qaeda-supported’ passenger train plot”
Reuters
April 22, 2013 - 21:23
By Euan Rocha
TORONTO (Reuters) -
SNIPPET: “The RCMP said it had arrested Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, of Montreal, and Raed Jaser, 35, of Toronto in connection with the plot, which authorities said was not linked to the Boston Marathon bombings, but likely had connections to al-Qaeda.
Neither is a Canadian citizen.”
SNIPPET: “The arrests follow not only last Monday’s Boston Marathon bombings in which three people were killed and more than 200 injured but revelations that Canadians took part in an attack by militants on a gas plant in Algeria in January.
It also recalls the arrests in 2006 of a group of more than a dozen Toronto-area men accused of planning to plant bombs at various Canadian targets. Eleven men were eventually convicted of taking part on the plot.”
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2013/04/22/pol-terror-plot-ontario-quebec-arrests.html
“Alleged ‘al-Qaeda-supported’ plot against Via train thwarted
Police say 2 accused were getting ‘direction and guidance’ from al-Qaeda elements in Iran”
CBC News Posted: Apr 22, 2013 1:44 PM ET Last Updated: Apr 22, 2013 10:36 PM ET
SNIPPET: “RCMP officials said the two accused were plotting to derail a passenger train. Jennifer Strachan, chief superintendent of RCMP criminal operations in the province of Ontario, said the two suspects watched trains and railways in the Greater Toronto Area.
“We are alleging that these two individuals took steps and conducted activities to initiate a terrorist attack,” she told reporters.”
SNIPPET: “There was a specific route targeted, not necessarily a specific train, Strachan said, although she declined to reveal the route. According to a Reuters report, U.S. law enforcement and national security sources said the alleged plot targeted a rail line between Toronto and New York City.
The two men arrested are not Canadian citizens but were in the country legally, police said Monday.”
SNIPPET: “Chiheb Esseghaier studied at University of Sherbrooke, before moving to Institute National de la Recherche Scientifique in Varennes, Que.”
SNIPPET: “RCMP Assistant Commissioner James Malizia said the two accused were getting “direction and guidance” from al-Qaeda elements in Iran.”