Yet another sign that if people living in North America thought terrorism had receeded as an immediate issue in their countries, they were mistaken: a terror plot on a Canadia to U.S train has been thwarted, Canadian police announced. And police say they were getting guidance from Al Qaeda elements in Iran:
Canadian police say they have arrested two men and thwarted a plot to carry out a major terrorist attack on a Via passenger train in the Greater Toronto Area.
In a press conference that followed an exclusive report by CBC’s Greg Weston, police named the two accused as Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, of Montreal, and Raed Jaser, 35, from Toronto. They have been charged with conspiracy to carry out a terrorist attack and “conspiring to murder persons unknown for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a terrorist group.”
The two men arrested are not Canadian citizens, police said Monday, but would not provide any details about their nationalities.
The RCMP accused the two men of conspiring to commit an “al-Qaeda-supported” attack.
Police said the two accused were getting “direction and guidance” from al-Qaeda elements in Iran. There was no information to suggest the attacks were state sponsored, police said.
Chief Supt. Jennifer Strachan said the two suspects watched trains and railways in the Greater Toronto Area. There was a specific route targeted, not necessarily a specific train, Strachan said, although she declined to reveal which route was allegedly being targeted.
“We are alleging that these two individuals took steps and conducted activities to initiate a terrorist attack,” she told reporters.
The two men are expected to appear at Old City Hall courthouse in Toronto tomorrow.
There’s reportedly no connection to the Boston Marathon bombing. CNN:
The thwarted terror plot in Canada was targeting a train “going from Canada to the U.S.,” Rep. Peter King, R-New York, told CNN in an interview to be broadcast on the Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer on Monday.
Authorities have arrested two men accused of planning to carry out an al Qaeda-supported attack against a Canadian passenger train on one of its busiest routes, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Monday.
Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, and Raed Jaser, 35, are charged with “receiving support from al Qaeda elements in Iran” to carry out an attack and conspiring to murder people on a VIA railway train in the greater Toronto area, Assistant Police Commissioner James Malizia said.
“When I speak about supported, I mean direction and guidance,” he said.
Despite the allegation of links to al Qaeda in Iran, there was no evidence to suggest the planned attacks were state-sponsored, Malizia said.
Authorities said the suspects were not Canadian citizens, but declined to identify their nationality or how long they had been in Canada.
There was no link between the Canadian investigation and the Boston Marathon bomb attack, an official with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police told CNN on condition of anonymity.
Canadian authorities were tight-lipped about the planned time frame of the alleged attack except to say it was in the planning stage and not imminent.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.