An al-Qaeda-linked terrorist plot in Canada unearthed Wednesday with the arrest two suspects has been traced back to Pakistan, Iran and Dubai even as police arrested another plotter on Thursday.
The suspects were just "months" away from carrying out the first terrorist attack on Canadian soil, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said.
While Hiva Mohammad Alizadeh,30, and Misbahuddin Ahmed, 26, - reported by his landlord to be of Indian origin - were arrested Wednesday in Ottawa, Khuram Khan, 28, was nabbed Thursday morning form the city of London, south-west of Toronto.
Khan, who comes from Pakistan, had taken part in the 2007 Canadian Idol contest wearing the Pakistani national dress of salwar-kameez.
The three suspects have been charged with hatching a terror plot in collaboration with their Canadian co-conspirators -Zakaria Mamosta, Rizgar Alizadeh and James Lara -and people in Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and Dubai. They have also been charged with financing terror groups in Afghanistan.
All three men are Canadian citizens.
Sher, who was born and raised in Montreal, moved to London, Ont. in July with his mother, wife and three children to start work as a pathologist at St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital.
In 2006, Sher went to Pakistan as part of an aid group sent to help out after an earthquake in Kashmir.
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http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/...The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have seized more than 50 electronic circuit board which can be used in making improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
The plot has been in the works since February 2008, and was unearthed after a year-long surveillance of the suspects, police said.
"This group posed a real and serious threat to the citizens of the national capital region (Ottawa) and Canada's national security. Our criminal investigation and arrests prevented the assembly of any bombs and the terrorist attack,"Royal Canadian Mounted Police superintendent Serge Therriault said.
Reacting to the smashing of the jihadist plot, prime minister Stephen Harper said "Canada does face some very real threats in the troubled in which we live."