CANADIAN TERRORIST ATTACKS AVERTED; 17 EXTREMISTS IN CUSTODY IN GTA

A group of Canadian residents arrested for "terrorism related offenses" had amassed enough explosives to build huge bombs and were planning to blow up targets around southern Ontario, Canadian police said on Saturday. Police said they had arrested 12 adults and five young people in coordinated raids in the Toronto area. The adults were from Toronto, its western suburb of Mississauga and from Kingston, Ontario, at the eastern edge of Lake Ontario, not far from the border with the United States.

Canada arrests terror suspects; explosives found | Reuters.com

Police said they seized about three tonnes of the commonly used fertilizer ammonium nitrate. Just one-third of that material was used in the bombing of a U.S. federal building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people in 1995.

"These individuals were allegedly intent on committing acts of terrorism against their own country and their own people," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said. "As we have said on many occasions, Canada is not immune to the threat of terrorism." An RCMP spokesman said, "Our investigation prevented the assembly of any bombs and attacks from being carried out."

All of the suspects are residents of Canada and most are Canadian citizens of various backgrounds, officials said.

An RCMP spokesman declined to answer questions about the intended targets but he said Toronto's public transit system was not one of them. Bill Blair, the city's police chief, told CBC News that officials had gathered information about dates chosen for the attacks, but he refused to provide details.

CBC News: 'Serious' bomb plot against Canada averted: police

According to sources close to the investigation, the suspects are teenagers and men in their 20s who had a relatively typical Canadian upbringing, but — allegedly spurred on by images of conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan and angered by what they saw as the mistreatment of Muslims at home — became increasingly violent.Police say they acquired weapons, picked targets and made detailed plans. They travelled north to a "training camp" and made propaganda videos imitating jihadists who had battled in Afghanistan. At night, they washed up at a Tim Hortons nearby.

[T]he suspects allegedly planned to target the spy service [CSIS] because many of them had encountered agents early in the investigation, when they were interviewed and put under surveillance. They also were allegedly angered by media reports accusing CSIS of racial profiling of Muslims.Some of the group's members had even been spotted taking notes around the building, and at least one had reportedly visited the basement, one source told the Star.

TheStar.com - How Internet monitoring sparked a CSIS investigation into a suspected homegrown terror cell

Heavily armed police officers ringed the Durham Regional Police Station in the city of Pickering, just east of Toronto, as the suspects were brought in late Friday night in unmarked cars which were drove into an underground garage. Officials showed evidence of bomb making materials, a computer hard drive, camouflage uniforms and what appears to be a door with bullet holes in it at a news conference Saturday morning. Intelligence officials believe at least 50 terror groups now have some presence in the North American nation and have long complained that the country's immigration laws and border security are too weak to weed out potential terrorists.

BREITBART.COM - 17 Terror Suspects Arrested in Toronto

Most were Canadian citizens or residents. Police described them as coming from a variety of backgrounds. The adults range in age from 19 to 43.

The suspects were arrested Friday night in a massive sweep in co-operation with an Integrated National Security Enforcement Team, or INSET. INSET teams are made up of members of the RCMP, CSIS, federal agencies such as the Canada Border Services Agency and Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and provincial and municipal police services.

Police refused to say what the terror suspects considered targets, although officials ruled out the Toronto Transit Commission - a public transit system that includes buses, subways and streetcars. A report in a Toronto newspaper citing sources said a CSIS building in downtown Toronto near the CN Tower as a target as well the Parliament buildings and a smattering of other high-profile, heavily populated areas.

The suspects were to appear in a Brampton court Saturday afternoon, where the police presence was so intense it resembled an armed camp.

All entrances to the court house were blockaded by steel barriers and police cruisers and manned by teams of officers.

Spectators, [who were required to remove their shoes as they entered,] were scrutinized at a series of three command checkpoints by tactical officers carrying M16 assault rifles and MP5 submachine guns and were aided by bomb-sniffing dogs.

CANOE -- CNEWS - Canada: Major terror bust in Ontario