Major al-Qaeda bombing plot unearthed in Canada; three arrested

Canadian Police today claimed to have foiled a major al-Qaeda bombing plot by arresting three Ottawa residents, with their ring leader believed to have been trained in Pakistan and Afghanistan and having close ties with top leaders of the dreaded terror outfit.

The arrests were made by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) under an operation codenamed "Operation Samosa" after carrying out searches of two residences on the Ottawa's west side.

Police said they were executing more searches and would carry out more arrests. "More arrests are anticipated," said a terse RCMP release.

Two of the three terrorism suspects appeared in Canadian Court today as the spectre of homegrown radicals hovered over the suburbs of Canada's capital city.

One of the men covered his face as he arrived in a police van for their first court appearance since the two were arrested early Wednesday.

A third terrorism suspect, one who moon walked across a Montreal stage during an audition for Canadian Idol, was detained early today, the Toronto Star reported.

Misbahuddin Ahmed, listed as owning a car seized by police, was one of the accused. The name of the second suspect, Hiva Ali Zadebl. Third suspect, Khuram Sher was arrested as part of an RCMP national security investigation, as police continue to investigate a possible cell allegedly plotting to attack targets at home.

The arrest of Misbahuddin came after police had kept him under surveillance for over two years in a project codenamed "Operation Samosa".

Though the RCMP released no names or identities of the suspects, but sources confirmed their names as Misbahuddin and Ehsan.

They said Misbahuddin Ahmed, who was categorised as ringleader, is believed to have been trained in Pakistan and Afghanistan and investigations involved a "bomb plot".

"These guys were doing more than just talking about terrorism. They were planning it," a police source was quoted as saying by the Vancouver Sun newspaper.

Of peculiar significance to police seems to be a Mazda car that Ahmed used to commute to work. "When it was in the driveway, they went over it with a fine tooth comb. They just swarmed over it," said Mary Surtees, a resident of the townhouse complex who saw it towed away.

"They were really on it like a dirty shirt."

The Canadian police had to break the surveillance operation as one of the suspects was preparing to travel abroad, the paper said.

Misbahuddin, the sources said, had worked for two years as a general radiography technologist at Ottawa's Hospital Civic Campus.

This is the second major terror plot to be unearthed in Canada since 9/11. In June 2006, a group of young Muslim men dubbed as 'Toronto 18' were rounded up and prosecuted for planning to attack downtown targets and a military base.

Similarly, in the Toronto 18 case, ringleader Fahim Ahmad was linked with a network of extremists stretching from Canada and the United States to Pakistan and the Balkans. 

"A vehicle, several computers, hard drives and scanners were seized from one of the residences," police said.

The police has scheduled a press conference later in the day to give more details about the plot as security experts warned that the plotters could have been planning to blow up hydroelectric plants and transmission lines to hit the US.

"There are ways of attacking US through Canada. The whole energy for New York comes from Quebec," they said.