(CBS/AP) At least one member of a group of terror suspects plotted to storm Canada's parliament and behead officials, including the prime minister, if Muslim prisoners in Canada and Afghanistan were not released, according to charges made public Tuesday.
Authorities also alleged that Steven Vikash Chand — one of 17 suspects in the case — plotted to take over media outlets such as the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
The new details of the charges — notably the alleged plot to take political leaders hostage — added a dramatic dimension to a case that already has prompted tighter security along the U.S.-Canada border and unsettled Canada's large Muslim community.
Police say they expect more arrests, and intelligence officers are probing possible ties between the Canadian suspects — 12 men and five teenagers — and Islamic terror cells in six nations, including the U.S. and countries in Europe and Asia.
Chand, a 25-year-old restaurant worker from Toronto, was one of 15 suspects who made brief court appearances Tuesday, their first since their arrests over the weekend. Bail hearings were postponed until at least Monday.
"There's an allegation apparently that my client personally indicated that he wanted to behead the prime minister of Canada," attorney Gary Batasar said. "It's a very serious allegation. My client has said nothing about that."
Batasar, speaking outside the courthouse, said the charges were based on fear-mongering government officials.
"It appears to me that whether you're in Ottawa or Toronto or Crawford, Texas, or Washington, D.C., what is wanting to be instilled in the public is fear," he said.
He also suggested that Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who expressed happiness at the arrests, should "keep out of the case."
The Ontario Court of Justice in Brampton, a small city just west of Toronto, had said the suspects faced charges that included participating in a terrorist group, importing weapons and planning a bombing. Details were not made public until Tuesday.
Lawyers and family members outside the court complained that they were being given too little information about the case, and said the suspects' legal rights were not being respected. Donald McLeod, a lawyer for Jahmaal James, complained of restricted access to his client, including only being allowed to speak to the accused through Plexiglas and not being allowed to have private discussions.
On Monday, Mike McDonell, deputy commissioner for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said there are "foreign connections" in the case, but he would not elaborate.
"We've by no means finished this investigation," he told The Associated Press. "In fact, you might look at it that, really, we're just starting with the arrests. We have a responsibility to follow every lead."
A U.S. law enforcement official said investigators were looking for connections between those detained in Canada and suspected Islamic militants held in the United States, Britain, Bangladesh, Bosnia, Denmark and Sweden.
U.S. authorities have established that two men from the state of Georgia who were charged this year in a terrorism case had been in contact with some of the Canadian suspects via computer, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing.
CBS News correspondent Jim Stewart reports the case is unique because of the global cooperation it took to unravel it, but law enforcement officials admit the scary thing is that this case suggest how easy it is for homegrown terrorists to seek out global cooperation as well.
It's just that cooperation that may lead to another attack on the United States. U.S. officials believe the Canadian arrests and three recent domestic incidents in the United States are evidence the United States will soon be
hit again by a terrorist attack. Privately, they say, they'd be surprised if it didn't come by the end of the year,
Stewart reported Monday in a
CBS News exclusive.
The U.S. Border Patrol put agents on high alert along the 4,000-mile border and stepped up inspections of traffic from Canada. Some American commentators and politicians have accused Canada of an overly lax immigration policy and some have suggested building a fence along the border, but Harper told Parliament on Tuesday that most Americans admire Canada for "our shared concern about the security of this continent."
The case has stunned many Canadians, who have not experienced such a major anti-terrorism case since security measures were intensified after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.
"It's breathtaking that this is going on in Canada," International Trade Minister David Emerson told the CBC. "To see the homegrown nature of it is shocking to me."
One suspect — 43-year-old Qayyum Abdul Jamal — gave sermons at a local mosque that were "filled with hate" against Canada, a Muslim leader who knew Jamal told the AP.
Canadian police say there is no evidence the suspect group had ties to al Qaeda, but describe its members as sympathetic to jihadist ideology. Officials are concerned that many of the 17 suspects were about 20 years old and had been radicalized in a short amount of time.
CBS News correspondent Cynthia Bowers reports Chand, even before his arrest, had developed a reputation as a pied piper of sorts, delivering anti-Canadian sermons at a local mosque. Some have told
Bowers he used his position as a volunteer at the mosque to turn disenchanted Muslims into believers of his radical brand of Islam.
Officials announced on Saturday the arrests of the suspects after the group acquired three tons of ammonium nitrate, which can be mixed with fuel oil to make a powerful explosive. One-third that amount was used in the deadly bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995.
The adult suspects all are charged with one count of participating in a terrorist group.
Three of them — Fahim Ahmad, 21, Mohammed Dirie, 22, and Yasim Abdi Mohamed, 24 — also are charged with importing weapons and ammunition for the purpose of terrorist activity.
Nine face charges of receiving training from a terrorist group, while four are charged with providing training. Six are charged with intending to cause an explosion that could cause serious bodily harm or death.
No information was released on the five teenagers due to privacy laws that protect minors.
