18 Arrested in Canadian Terror Plot Updated: January 27, 2010 Posted: June 9, 2006

In one of the biggest anti-terrorism investigations in North America since the September 11 terrorist attacks, one member of the so-called "Toronto 18" has been convicted and four others have pleaded guilty to plotting a series of terrorist attacks in southeast Canada.

Twelve men and five minors, most of whom are Canadian citizens, were arrested on June 2-3, 2006, during a series of coordinated raids in the Toronto area. An eighteenth suspect, Ibrahim Alkhalel Mohammed Aboud, was arrested the following month. The men were taken into custody in connection with an alleged plot to use truck bombs against targets in southern Ontario, including the Toronto Stock Exchange, the downtown Toronto office of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and a Canadian military base. 

The alleged plot also included a plan to storm the Parliament building in Ottawa, take hostages and behead the Canadian prime minister if the government did not pull its 2,300 troops out of Afghanistan and release Muslim political prisoners, according to court documents. 

While charges against the five minors have not been made public, each of the adults is charged with one count of participating in a terrorist group. Three suspects are charged with importing weapons and ammunition for the purpose of terrorist activity and nine face charges of receiving training from a terrorist group. In addition, four are charged with providing training and six are charged with intending to cause an explosion that could cause serious bodily harm or death.

At the time of the arrests, all but two of the suspects were in their teens and early 20s. They include men of Somali, Egyptian, Jamaican, Trinidadian, Sri Lankan and Saudi Arabian origin. 

Police and intelligence officials, who had been monitoring the so-called Toronto 18, carried out the raids after the group arranged a delivery of three tons of ammonium nitrate, a chemical commonly used in fertilizer that can be made into an explosive when combined with fuel oil. The suspects also operated training camps, according to authorities, although they would not disclose their locations. At a news conference, police displayed items they said were used at the camps, including a pistol, a computer hard drive, military fatigues, army-style boots and two-way radios.

Nishanthan Yogakrishnan, 18, allegedly attended one of the training camps and shoplifted items for the group. The only suspect to go to trial, Yogakrishnan was convicted in September 2008 of participating in a terrorist group and given a prison sentence of two and a half years. He was released from jail the following May after he was credited for time served before the trial.

Several of the suspects reportedly attended Al-Rahman Islamic Center for Islamic Education, a storefront mosque in Mississauga, just west of Toronto. One of the directors of the Islamic Center said suspect Qayyum Abdul Jamal, 43, "was very active associating with the young fellows" and was "teaching them intolerance."

One of the suspects, Zakaria Amara, 20, apparently led the effort to buy the ammonium nitrate for the truck bombs via the Internet. Investigators found a remote-triggering device at his home in Mississauga, according to court documents. In October 2009, Amara pleaded guilty to knowingly participating in the activity of a terrorist group and to participating in a terror plot with the intention of causing an explosion. He was sentenced to life in prison the following January.

Saad Gaya, 18, was tasked with driving one of the bomb-laden trucks to its target. He pleaded guilty in September 2009 to intending to cause an explosion on behalf of a terrorist organization and was sentenced the following January to 12 years in prison, which includes credit for the seven and a half years he served in pretrial custody. Saad Khalid, 19, bought electrical components used to make the bomb and recruited another person into the plot. He pleaded guilty in May 2009 to one count of participating in a terror plot with the intention of causing an explosion and was sentenced the following September to 14 years in prison, though he will receive credit for time already served.

Shareef Abdelhaleen, 30, who reportedly helped collect the bomb-making materials, allegedly paid an undercover police officer $1,796 as a down payment for the chemicals, according to the documents. He was found guilty in January 2010 of plotting to bomb financial, intelligence and military targets. Another suspect, Steven Vikash Chand (a.k.a. Abdul Shakur), 25, was a member of the Royal Regiment of Canada, a reservist unit that meets in Toronto, between 2000 and 2004. A military spokesperson said Chand "spent a large portion of his time on leave of absence."