http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Artic le_Type1 <http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Arti cle_Type1&c=Article&cid=1145657412730&call_pageid=968332188492> &c=Article&cid=1145657412730&call_pageid=968332188492 Terror suspects plotted in Toronto, FBI charges 2 met extremists to plan attack on U.S.
Arrived in March last year, papers show Apr. 22, 2006. 01:00 AM TIM <http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Render&c=Pa ge&cid=Variables.page:id&ce=Columnist&colid=1053514084392> HARPER AND MICHELLE SHEPHARD Two Georgia men met in Toronto with Islamic extremists to discuss potential terror strikes in the United States, including attacks on oil refineries and military bases, according to U.S. court documents unsealed yesterday. The documents say the pair met with at least three people, who are under international surveillance, to plot ways to disable the Global Positioning System which would disrupt military and commercial communications and air traffic. They also discussed a trip to Pakistan to receive military training at a terrorist-sponsored camp. FBI agent Michael Scherk, a member of the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Atlanta, says in a sworn affidavit 19-year-old Eshanul Islam Sadequee of Roswell, Ga., and Syed Haris Ahmed, 21, of Atlanta, made the trip to Toronto in March 2005. The two men are American citizens but Sadequee attended high school in Canada and told investigators he has an aunt in Toronto. Ahmed has been charged with suspicion of giving material support of terrorism and is being held at an undisclosed location. He pleaded not guilty during a brief court appearance Wednesday in Georgia. Sadequee is accused of making materially false statements in connection with a terrorist investigation, and he was arrested in Bangladesh, where he told the FBI that he had gone to get married. He is being returned to New York to face formal charges. Sadequee's sister, Sharmin, said in a telephone interview from East Lansing, Mich., that the family was concerned about his well-being. Asked if he had an aunt in Toronto, she said, "I can't answer that.'' An Atlanta television station said Ahmed's family confirmed he travelled to Pakistan recently, but said it was for religious training, not terrorist training. Canadian authorities are working with the FBI concerning the three Canadian men who are identified in the document as "like-minded Islamic extremists.'' Within Toronto's Muslim community there are mixed views as to the likelihood of a local group plotting an attack. Since the 9/11 attacks, the Mounties and CSIS have been accused of profiling Muslim and Arab youths who oppose the United States or conflicts in Iraq or Afghanistan. A 2003 investigation, dubbed "Project Thread," targeted 22 Pakistani students and one Indian national as members of a potential Al Qaeda sleeper cell. The probe ended up as a routine immigration case. Others believe it would be naive to assume Canada is immune when home-grown groups have developed throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East. Tarek Fatah, founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress and host of the television show The Muslim Chronicle, says he has recently become concerned about the change in the thinking of some young Canadians. "In talking to young people there is evidence of militancy, and that is not just about conservatism or traditional Islam, which has always been there," Fatah said. "What we're seeing is a militant attitude and they're using this notion that any criticism of Muslim fanaticism would be seen as Islamaphobia. "There's a change in the nature of some of the conversations that are going on in some young groups ... the politicization of the chatter is what is worrisome." Sadequee's lawyer, Shereef Akeel, said his client does have an aunt in Toronto and did attend school there for a "couple of years.'' "This is a 19-year-old kid who went to get married in Bangladesh and he and his bride wanted to come back to the U.S. to attend school,'' the lawyer said. "This is shocking to the family and completely uncharacteristic for this kid.'' He said Sadequee worked for an organization in the Atlanta area which provided shelter and food for underprivileged or abandoned women. The U.S. Attorney in Georgia, David Nahmias, said in a statement that the charge against Ahmed is "serious and involves national security.'' U.S. Justice Department officials, however, said there was no immediate threat to any strategic U.S. targets. According to the court document, Sadequee and Ahmed travelled to Toronto from Atlanta on a Greyhound bus, leaving March 6, 2005, and crossed the border back to the United States on March 12. Sadequee is accused of lying to federal agents when he was detained at New York's Kennedy airport in August 2005, saying he had travelled to Canada in January of that year, staying with an aunt he identified as "Manju Auntie,'' but being unable to name her husband. According to the FBI, a wiretapped conversation between Sadequee's sister in Michigan and Ahmed picked up the following statement from the sister: "Shifa (Sadequee) is travelling back and forth. You guys visited Toronto together.'' Ahmed also told investigators the two men stayed with friends in Toronto, not Sadequee's aunt. Ahmed's family immigrated to the United States from Pakistan in 1997 and are American citizens living in Dawsonville, Ga. FBI agents confiscated computer hard drives and data CDs from their home last month. Federal agents conducted a search of Sadequee's bags before he left for Bangladesh and found two CD-ROMS concealed in the lining of a suitcase. One CD contained encrypted files that FBI technical experts still cannot decode, the affidavit said, while the other CD contained a bootleg copy of a hard-core pornographic movie. They also found tourist maps of Washington, D.C., and Alexandria, Va. In an interview with the Toronto Star last fall, CSIS director Jim Judd cautioned that homegrown terrorism is a pressing concern in most Western countries because it's more difficult to detect. Last February, CSIS deputy director Dale Neufeld had similar warnings for senators reviewing Canada's anti-terrorism legislation. "If I was sitting before you two or three years ago, I wouldn't talk about two of the real trends that we see in this country. Our allies see it as well. It's the second generation, the children of Muslims who are born in this country. They have a very normal upbringing, according to our analysis, but at some point in their teenage years or young twenties, they decide that radical Islam is the path they want to take," Neufeld, who has since retired, told the senators. They are also disillusioned in many cases, he said, and sometimes take up Islam "in the radical form." "I do believe that when the time comes, a number of these people will attempt to do something quite serious." [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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