ISIS sympathizer arrested after plotting to bomb U.S. consulate in Toronto: CBSA



Stewart Bell | March 11, 2015 | Last Updated: Mar 11 12:12 PM ET
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TORONTO — A Pakistani man arrested by immigration officials this week is an ISIS supporter who had plotted to bomb financial buildings and the U.S. consulate in Toronto, the Canada Border Service Agency alleged at a hearing Wednesday.

Jahanzeb Malik, who came to Canada as a student in 2004, told an undercover police officer he had attended training camps in Libya and wanted to build an explosive device to conduct attacks in Toronto, the CBSA said.

Believing the undercover officer was a veteran of combat in Bosnia, he attempted to recruit him by showing him ISIS beheading videos and encouraging him to watch the lectures of al Qaida figure Anwar Al-Awlaki.

He was arrested on Monday following what the CBSA called a “lengthy investigation” by the RCMP Integrated National Security Enforcement Team in Toronto. He faces no criminal charges at this point but is being deported.

The planning was elaborate, including discussing with the undercover officer the video message they would leave behind in order to inspire others

Had the man he attempted to recruit not been an undercover officer, “mass destruction and possible loss of life would have been the result,” CBSA officer Jessica Lourenco told the Immigration and Refugee Board.

“He indicated his support of the attackers in Paris,” she said, referring to the deadly attack on the office of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.




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“The planning was elaborate, including discussing with the undercover officer the video message they would leave behind in order to inspire others,” Lourenco said.

Since arriving in Canada, Mr. Malik made several trips abroad that the government has been unable to explain. He became a landed immigrant in 2009 after he was sponsored by his wife, from whom he is now separated. He has been arrested several times for fraud and violent crimes.

The government is attempting to deport him on the grounds he is a security threat. The hearing in Toronto, which occurred under tight security, was to determine whether he should be detained while Ottawa tries to deport him.

He was ordered detained.

Mass destruction and possible loss of life would have been the result

Appearing by video conference from the detention centre in Lindsay, Ont., Mr. Malik remained quiet during the proceedings, dressed in an orange jumpsuit. His lawyer made no arguments at the detention hearing. A decision is pending.

On Monday, his lawyer Anser Farooq said Mr. Malik had contacted him following his arrest by the CBSA but had no details. He said Mr. Malik had been question by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service in the past.

The arrest followed the Oct. 27 apprehension of another Pakistani citizen, Mohammed Aqeeq Ansari, who was picked up in Toronto following an RCMP investigation called Project Seashell. A hearing to decide whether to deport Mr. Ansari to Pakistan concluded last Wednesday.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2015/03...-toronto-cbsa/