Canada makes major arrests

Canada briefly became the focus of international security attention with the arrest of 17 men and teenagers in Toronto and nearby suburbs on June 2 and 3. The men were rounded up by special police units after an RCMP 'sting' operation in which they purchased — or thought they were purchasing — three tons of ammonium nitrate, the same substance used in the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 that killed 168 people. The RCMP substituted a similar-looking but innocuous powder for the actual sale. They claim the suspects also bought or tried to buy other components required to make explosive devices. Authorities have said that they consider the group to be "home-grown" but that while it had no direct connection to Al Qaeda it appears to have drawn inspiration from that group's ideology.

The RCMP operation, said to be the largest in Canada since the country passed its Anti-Terrorism Act following the 9/11 attacks in the U.S., was initially launched in 2004 when the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) began to track postings to radical Islamist websites. CSIS brought in the RCMP a year later when CSIS thought it had enough information to launch a criminal investigation. The arrests were made when authorities feared the group was getting too close to launching an attack.

Reactions varied, ranging from denunciations of Canadian laxity by U.S. politicians and claims by human rights groups the charges were baseless to expressions of anti-immigrant sentiment. Some critics pointed out that a series of 23 antiterrorism arrests in August 2003 fizzled, with no charges or convictions, but an academic told a TV news reporter that this group was more sophisticated: "They obviously had some heavy financing from somewhere."

A security briefing document obtained by a Canadian newspaper claimed that the RCMP has broken up 12 similar terrorist cells since 2004, largely 'disrupting' them simply by letting them know that they're being watched. The FBI said that the recent arrested in Canada might have had a connection with two men arrested in the state of Georgia around the same time on terrorism charges.