Canadian police make new arrest linked to ISIL cell
Arrest announced along with charges against three men held in January for alleged involvement in recruiting for ISIL.
Canadian police have announced charges against three men for alleged involvement in recruiting fighters for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group as well as another arrest, according to a senior police official.
The Associated Press news agency cited the official as saying on Tuesday that the new arrest was linked to the cases of three men held in Ottawa in January.
It involves alleged recruitment of ISIL fighters and John Maguire, a Canadian man who appeared in an ISIL video overseas and who reportedly might have been killed recently.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak before Tuesday’s planned announcement, said charges will be brought against Maguire, who police could not confirm is dead.
“We’d been working him for a while,” the official said.
The official said Awso Peshdary, the man arrested in Ottawa, was the subject of a prior police investigation but was not arrested earlier because there was not enough evidence against him.
The official said police would also announce charges against the third man.
Ottawa cell
Suliman Mohamed, 21, was charged last month with “participating in a terrorist group”. That arrest occurred just days after Ashton Carleton Larmond and Carlos Larmond – twin brothers linked to Mohamed – were charged with “terrorism-related” offences.
Carlos Larmond was arrested at Montreal’s airport on charges of intending to travel overseas for “terrorist purposes”.
A separate government official familiar with the matter said then that the brothers were trying to get to Syria.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly, said the latest charges includes an arrest and also involves people who are outside Canada.
“It’s a cell in Ottawa. Their focus seems to be on overseas activities, not on carrying out terrorist acts at home,” the government official said.
In October, Canada was hit by two attacks by so-called lone wolves believed to have been inspired by ISIL.
In Ottawa, an armed man shot and killed a soldier at Canada’s National War Memorial and then stormed parliament before being shot to death.
The attack in Ottawa came two days after a man ran over two soldiers in a parking lot in Quebec, killing one and injuring the other before being shot to death by police.
Canada is taking part in the US-led campaign against ISIL in Iraq and Syria.