Terror Suspects Sought Covert Base In Northern Ontario
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A group of men alleged to have been part of a terrorist plot to attack Canadian targets discussed turning a secluded northern Ontario property into a “covert” training base, complete with tunnels for moving supplies and snowmobiles to practice with “AKs,” wiretap evidence suggests.
The intercepted phone calls and audio recordings, played in court Tuesday during the trial of the remaining youth suspect, also contained ambiguous references to “the guys” needing “wives” that prosecutors alleged was code for the need to supply the group with guns.
Several conversations were captured in February 2006 during what the Crown maintains was a trip to scout out properties in the remote community of Opasatika, Ont., some 900 kilometres north of Toronto. Eighteen men and youth were arrested later that same year in the Toronto area in this country’s largest anti-terrorism operation since 9-11.
“What we can do is like a covert thing … Nobody’s able to know that … You got like 15, 20 guys (in a house),” one of the alleged ringleaders of the group is heard telling three others.
“Four brothers, two snowmobiles. One guy rides, one guy practices with AKs.”
RCMP Const. Lee Snelling, the wiretap investigator called to give evidence Tuesday, testified it was “possible” the suspect was referring to an AK-47 assault rifle.
“Four hundred acres … You get in a little and you shoot your AKs … No one’s going to hear that,” the alleged ringleader says.
The youth’s case is the first to go to trial after he was charged two years ago along with 17 others in connection with an alleged plot to attack power grids, Canada’s spy agency, the CBC, the RCMP and a nuclear power plant in Pickering, Ont., east of Toronto.
The wiretap evidence, combined with the testimony of police informant Mubin Shaikh, makes up the bulk of the Crown’s case.
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