Canadian Sting Operation Nets 17 Terror Arrests

A sting operation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police delivered ammonium nitrate to a group of Canadian Muslims that wanted to launch a string of attacks that were al-Qaida inspired, an Associated Press article on WashingtonPost.com reports.

The article states investigators learned that the group planned to bomb targets around Ontario, then controlled the sale and transport of the fertilizer, which can be combined with fuel oil or other ingredients to make a powerful explosive.

Police arrested 12 adults, and five suspects under the age of 18 on charges that included plotting attacks with explosives on Canadian targets. The AP reports the 17 suspects represent a wide spectrum of Canadian society, from unemployed to college-educated. All are citizens or residents of Canada.

The operation involved about 400 intelligence and law enforcement officers and was the largest counterterrorism operation in Canada since the country adopted its Anti-Terrorism Act after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, the article reports.

The Canadian press reported that Web surfing and e-mail among the suspects started a probe into the group’s activities in 2004. According to the police, the Internet was a very important part of their activities.

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Compiled by Paul Kerstein