# Terrorist Plot to Sabotage Canada-U.S. VIA Train Foiled



## Old Sweat (22 Apr 2013)

This story reporting on a series of arrests in regard to a major terrorist plot is from the CBC site. It is reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act.

Alleged terror plot thwarted by arrests in Ontario, Quebec

RCMP to outline joint operation involving CSIS, U.S. authorities and local police

By Greg Weston, National Affairs Specialist, CBC News 

Posted: Apr 22, 2013 1:44 PM ET 

Canadian police and intelligence agencies will announce later today they have thwarted a plot to carry out a major terrorist attack, arresting two suspects in Montreal and Toronto, CBC News has learned.

Highly placed sources tell CBC News the alleged plotters have been under surveillance for more than a year in Quebec and southern Ontario.

The two men are expected to appear in court tomorrow.
Police have made a number of arrests in southern Ontario and Quebec following a joint operation between Canadian and U.S. authorities. (CBC)
The investigation was part of a cross-border operation involving Canadian law enforcement agencies, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The arrests Monday morning were co-ordinated and executed by a special joint task force of RCMP and CSIS anti-terrorism units, combined with provincial and municipal police forces in Ontario and Quebec.

The RCMP are expected to hold a press conference Monday afternoon to announce the arrests and provide details of the alleged plot, and give an overview of the extensive police and intelligence operation.

Law enforcement officials say the terror suspects arrested today have no connection to the two brothers accused of last week's Boston Marathon bombings.

They also say there is no tie to the former London, Ont., high school friends who joined al-Qaeda and died earlier this year while helping to stage a bloody attack on an Algerian gas refinery.

Alleged plot recalls Toronto 18 case

Sources say the alleged plot disrupted by Monday's arrests was potentially more dangerous than the bombings and hostage-takings planned by the so-called Toronto 18.

That plot was broken up in the summer of 2006, when police arrested 18 people in a massive anti-terrorism sweep in southern Ontario.

Eleven of the 18 were subsequently convicted of aiding the group in various plots, ranging from blowing up the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill and the Toronto Stock Exchange with trucks laden with explosives to beheading the prime minister and other politicians.

The group never got a chance to execute any of its plans before being arrested when one of its members took delivery of what they thought were three tonnes of explosive fertilizer to be used in truck bombs. Undercover agents had replaced the shipment with harmless chemicals.

Four are serving sentences of 18 years to life in prison, while the other seven received terms ranging from 30 months to just over seven years.

More recently, three Canadian citizens were arrested in August, 2010 — two Ottawa men and a London, Ont. doctor — and charged with knowingly facilitating a terrorist activity.

One of them, Hiva Alizadeh, was also charged with possession of more than 50 circuit boards allegedly to be used as remote detonators for bombs.

The cases involving those three have yet to go to court.


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## old medic (22 Apr 2013)

Official: Thwarted terror plot targeted train from Canada to U.S.
By Chelsea J. Carter and Catherine Shoichet, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/22/world/americas/canada-terror-plot-thwarted/index.html?hpt=hp_t1


> (CNN) -- The thwarted terror plot in Canada was targeting a train "going from Canada to the U.S.," Rep. Peter King, R-New York, told CNN in an interview to be broadcast on the Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer on Monday.
> 
> Authorities have arrested two men accused of planning to carry out an al Qaeda-supported attack against a Canadian passenger train on one of its busiest routes, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Monday.
> 
> ...


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## daftandbarmy (22 Apr 2013)

Well done chaps!  
:cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:


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## cupper (22 Apr 2013)

On the down side, be prepared for the cries to better protect the northern border, and a resurrection of the myth that  the 9-11 Hijackers entered the US from Canada. :


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## lee465 (22 Apr 2013)

Kudos! Proactive anti terrorism at its best.


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## tomahawk6 (22 Apr 2013)

There will be more arrests.


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## The Bread Guy (24 May 2013)

An update


> Two men accused of plotting Canada's first known Al Qaeda-sponsored terrorist attack appeared in a packed Old City Hall courtroom Thursday morning.
> 
> Wearing an orange jumpsuit and appearing via video link, Chiheb Esseghaier told the justice of the peace that he did not have a lawyer. He has applied for legal aid.
> 
> ...


_Hamilton Spectator_, 23 May 13


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## George Wallace (24 May 2013)

Interesting.



> "...but stressed that any legal representation must use the "holy book." "I don't want a book written by humans," he told the court."



Just who does he think wrote the Koran?  Like the Bible and all other "Holy books", it was written and printed by men inspired by visions and events; and scribed according to their memories of those visions or events.

"Man" is the common imperfection in all these instances.


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## OldSolduer (24 May 2013)

Ah but the Koran was not written by a man but God. 

Mohamed was merely the conduit.


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## GAP (24 May 2013)

Jim Seggie said:
			
		

> Ah but the Koran was not written by a man but God.
> 
> Mohamed was merely the conduit.



yes.....I too am meerly the conduit....my book Bible will be out in September.....


about the same time the Sports Illustrated Swim Suite edition comes out....look for it!!


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## OldSolduer (24 May 2013)

GAP said:
			
		

> yes.....I too am meerly the conduit....my book Bible will be out in September.....
> 
> 
> about the same time the Sports Illustrated Swim Suite edition comes out....look for it!!



I like your thinking....


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## The Bread Guy (11 Jun 2013)

Still lookin' - highlights mine ....


> Chiheb Esseghaier shuffled to the prisoner's dock on Monday, his ankles bound in shackles, for what would be another lesson in his crash course in Canadian law.
> 
> Esseghaier is one of two men charged with terror-related offences in relation to a plot to derail a Via Rail passenger train somewhere between Toronto and New York City.
> 
> ...


CBC.ca, 10 Jun 13


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## The Bread Guy (26 Sep 2013)

No preliminary inquiry for YOU!


> The Public Prosecution Service of Canada today announced the filing of a direct indictment against Chiheb Esseghaier, 31, and Raed Jaser, 36, in the terrorism-related case named Project Smooth.
> 
> The indictment was filed September 19, 2013, in Ontario Superior Court, with changes to the charges against both accused.
> 
> By preferring an indictment, the Crown is sending these matters directly to trial. The decision was made under section 577 of the Criminal Code and follows policy in the _Federal Prosecution Service Deskbook_, a public document ....


Public Prosecution Service of Canada, 23 Sept 13

Meanwhile, one of the defendants continues to make friends and influence people ....


> In an interview from prison, one of the VIA Rail terror suspects says the West is “plunging a knife into the body” of the Muslim world, and he was duty-bound to “liberate Muslim lands.”
> 
> Chiheb Esseghaier told a Montreal-based newspaper**** the September 11, 2001, attacks were a “tap on the cheek” compared to the violence committed by the West.
> 
> ...


_National Post_, 26 Sept 13

**** - links to La Presse article in French


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## pbi (28 Sep 2013)

Personally, I think these are a pair of clowns, of approximately the same cut as the "Stupid Eighteen" who got scooped a while back, after talking out loud about their cool adventures in a Tim's where they could be overheard .

I doubt these two had any real idea off how they would do this, or any appreciation of what an insignificant effect it would have in the bigger picture.

The real problem IMHO  is that these nitwits create a "cry wolf" situation. They debase the argument that we may have real, dangerous and capable bad people in our country, who will in time do something serious. 

They also fuel the fire of  the resident mouth-breathers who want to firebomb mosques or do other stupid things to otherwise peaceful Canadian Muslims, thereby tilling the soil for terrorists by stoking Muslim anger, isolation and resentment.


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## The Bread Guy (6 Jan 2015)

A quick update - no more pardon for YOU, buddy ....


> There is no evidence of any political interference in a decision to revoke the criminal pardon of a man accused of plotting to attack a passenger train, a Federal Court judge has ruled.
> 
> In upholding the pardon revocation, Judge Keith Boswell said the Parole Board of Canada had not been unfair to Raed Jaser, who has yet to stand trial in relation to the alleged terror plot.
> 
> ...


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## jollyjacktar (2 Feb 2015)

The trial for the VIA Rail wannabe bombers starts today as well.  They report that it is expected to take about 8 weeks from start to finish.  One defendant has two lawyers and has plead not guilty.  

The other refused to speak and will represent himself, which I find puzzling as he claimed he was above the laws of man and only needed to heed the laws of God.  Seems as if God decided not to send him a lawyer too.  He must be guilty...  >


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## The Bread Guy (2 Feb 2015)

A bit more ....


> Two men accused of planning a terrorist attack on a passenger train travelling between Canada and the U.S. were motivated by Islamic extremism and spent months plotting to murder as many people as they could, their trial heard on Monday.
> 
> Raed Jaser and Chiheb Esseghaier both face multiple charges in the alleged Via Rail plot. Not-guilty pleas have been entered for both of them.
> 
> ...


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## The Bread Guy (24 Sep 2015)

This, from CBC.ca ....


> Raed Jaser and Chiheb Esseghaier, the men convicted earlier this year on terrorism charges for plotting to derail a Via passenger train, were both sentenced to life in prison today in a Toronto courtroom.
> 
> In passing sentence, Superior Court of Justice Judge Michael Code said the unusual gravity of terrorism offences means he had to send a strong enough message to deter others considering carrying out similar crimes. He said there was little evidence presented that mitigates the presumptive sentence of life in prison.
> 
> ...


More via link


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## jollyjacktar (24 Sep 2015)

For these two, its a shame that life wouldn't really be a lifetime.  They always will be a threat to society as far as I'm concerned.


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## jollyjacktar (26 Jul 2017)

The latest on our terrorist who doesn't like trains...



> Via Rail terror plotter to appeal life sentence
> 
> Chiheb Esseghaier and accomplice were sentenced to life in prison for passenger train terror plot
> 
> ...


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## a_majoor (26 Jul 2017)

So he can now spend the rest of his life in the psychiatric ward of the prison.....


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## The Bread Guy (26 Jul 2017)

And bumped with the latest ...


> A man found guilty of plotting to derail a passenger train between Canada and the U.S. is seeking to appeal his sentence as well as his conviction.
> 
> A lawyer appointed to assist Chiheb Esseghaier says she told a court about his desire to broaden his appeal at a hearing Wednesday.
> 
> ...


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## Good2Golf (30 Jul 2017)

Thucydides said:
			
		

> So he can now spend the rest of his life in the psychiatric ward of the prison.....



...just like Vince Li/"Will Baker"...oh, wait...


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## 7thghoul (30 Jul 2017)

Good2Golf said:
			
		

> ...just like Vince Li/"Will Baker"...oh, wait...



Vince Li actually gives me the heebie jeebies dude. Can't believe he is out.


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## Good2Golf (30 Jul 2017)

7thghoul said:
			
		

> Vince Li actually gives me the heebie jeebies dude. Can't believe he is out.



I'm not even associated with Tim's family and can only imagine the pain and sadness his mother endures every day, but I find the idea of Li getting a full discharge absolutely abhorrent.

Regards
G2G


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## George Wallace (30 Jul 2017)

Good2Golf said:
			
		

> I'm not even associated with Tim's family and can only imagine the pain and sadness his mother endures every day, but I find the idea of Li getting a full discharge absolutely abhorrent.
> 
> Regards
> G2G




Yet, when I made the comment a few days back that our Justice System often favours the Criminal over the Victims, the cries came out again about "Human Rights".  This is one of many cases, and unfortunately we are forced to live with them even though they are morally distasteful.


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## jollyjacktar (30 Jul 2017)

Medication be damned.  I would never be comfortable around Li or trust anyone else like him, should they be returned to society.  As far as I'm concerned he just one step away from going off meds and listening to those voices in his head once more.  Those voices need their tongues  cut out.


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## 7thghoul (30 Jul 2017)

Vince Li = nightmare fuel. I can't buy a greyhound ticket without a tiny tinge of worry because of that one time someone got beheaded on the bus. I feel bad because there is, I believe, A very high chance (99.9% certain) that he is mentally ill and wasn't necessarily in control. BUT that lack of control itself should merit a life of segregation.


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## OldSolduer (30 Jul 2017)

7thghoul said:
			
		

> Vince Li actually gives me the heebie jeebies dude. Can't believe he is out.



He's now known as Will Baker. He's completely on his own and trusted to take his meds. The mental health advocates ....(and to a certain extent I
am one too).. .basically called all those who wanted Vince in a secure facility for life a bunch of uneducated ignorant hicks. I would far prefer him in a secure psychiatric facility than on the street. Compassion only goes so far before it becomes idiocy.


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## mariomike (30 Jul 2017)

7thghoul said:
			
		

> Vince Li = nightmare fuel.



Vince has his own nine-page thread,

Manitoba bus stabbing/ beheading 
https://army.ca/forums/threads/78542.150

This makes it an even dozen,

'Hated' church group to protest Tim McLean funeral  
https://army.ca/forums/threads/78744.0
3 pages.


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## jmt18325 (18 Aug 2017)

George Wallace said:
			
		

> Yet, when I made the comment a few days back that our Justice System often favours the Criminal over the Victims, the cries came out again about "Human Rights".  This is one of many cases, and unfortunately we are forced to live with them even though they are morally distasteful.



Vince Lee wasn't convicted of a crime, so, that doesn't really make your argument.


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## jmt18325 (18 Aug 2017)

jollyjacktar said:
			
		

> Medication be damned.  I would never be comfortable around Li or trust anyone else like him, should they be returned to society.  As far as I'm concerned he just one step away from going off meds and listening to those voices in his head once more.  Those voices need their tongues  cut out.



The mania always returns if they go off their meds.  He should have been supervised for life at medication time.


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## Eye In The Sky (18 Aug 2017)

jmt18325 said:
			
		

> Vince Lee wasn't convicted of a crime, so, that doesn't really make your argument.



Let's not confuse _legalities_ with _realities_.  The guy cut a person's head of on a bus and consumed part of him.  He shouldn't be wandering around free in society again.  Ever.


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## jmt18325 (18 Aug 2017)

Eye In The Sky said:
			
		

> Let's not confuse _legalities_ with _realities_.  The guy cut a person's head of on a bus and consumed part of him.  He shouldn't be wandering around free in society again.  Ever.



If you read my next post, you'll see that I agree with you - I simply don't feel that his case is the right one with which to attack the justice system, since he did not remain in it in any meaningful way.  

Anyway, back to the topic.


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## George Wallace (18 Aug 2017)

jmt18325 said:
			
		

> Vince Lee wasn't convicted of a crime, so, that doesn't really make your argument.


Not to be pickie, but where did I mention Vince Li or Lee?


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## The Bread Guy (27 Aug 2019)

Necrothread nudged with the latest ...


> Ontario's highest court has granted a new trial for two men who were found guilty of terrorism charges after being accused of plotting to derail a Via Rail passenger train in the Greater Toronto Area.
> 
> The Court of Appeal for Ontario ordered Tuesday*** that the 2015 convictions of Raed Jaser and Chiheb Esseghaier be set aside.
> 
> ...


*** - Text of court decision attached.
**** - Text of PPSC statement also attached.


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## Eye In The Sky (27 Aug 2019)

I hope they get found guilty again and don't see daylight for years (I'd prefer never...).  I am not a fan of our 'legal' system and all the technical loopholes POSs can find to get out of paying for their crimes.


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## OldSolduer (27 Aug 2019)

Eye In The Sky said:
			
		

> I hope they get found guilty again and don't see daylight for years (I'd prefer never...).  I am not a fan of our 'legal' system and all the technical loopholes POSs can find to get out of paying for their crimes.



EITS it’s an industry not a system.

Where people with sub normal IQs are sentenced to lengthy terms and the wealthy often see no jail time....am I a cynic?


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## Fishbone Jones (27 Aug 2019)

They'll likely be in the wind within a week of release.


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## mariomike (27 Aug 2019)

Hamish Seggie said:
			
		

> and the wealthy often see no jail time....



Innocent until proven broke?


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## The Bread Guy (17 Dec 2019)

milnews.ca said:
			
		

> Necrothread nudged with the latest...
> 
> 
> > Ontario's highest court has granted a new trial for two men who were found guilty of terrorism charges after being accused of plotting to derail a Via Rail passenger train in the Greater Toronto Area.
> ...


Next:  trial by judge alone, IF The Supremes don't chime in*** ...


> Two men convicted of plotting to crash a Via Rail train have chosen to be tried by judge alone should their case not proceed to the Supreme Court of Canada.
> 
> The Ontario Court of Appeal overturned the 2015 convictions of Raed Jaser and Chiheb Esseghaier on terror-related charges related to an al-Qaida-inspired plot to derail a passenger train travelling between the United States and Canada.
> 
> ...


*** - According to the Supreme Court's own stats, there's about a 6% chance any appeal that is filed will be heard.


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## The Bread Guy (20 Feb 2020)

The latest:  The Supremes will hear an appeal of the decision to give these two a new trial ....


> The Supreme Court of Canada will review a lower-court decision to grant a new trial to two men accused of plotting to crash a Via Rail train.
> 
> Raed Jaser and Chiheb Esseghaier were found guilty in 2015 of terror-related charges arising mainly from an alleged al-Qaida-inspired plot to derail a passenger train travelling between the United States and Canada.
> 
> ...


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## The Bread Guy (9 Oct 2020)

Verdict:  no new trial for YOU!


> The Supreme Court of Canada says there should be no new trial for two men convicted of terrorism offences.
> 
> Raed Jaser and Chiheb Esseghaier were found guilty in 2015 of terror-related charges arising mainly from an alleged al-Qaeda-inspired plot to derail a passenger train travelling between the United States and Canada.
> 
> ...


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## blacktriangle (9 Oct 2020)

These guys should be doing a perpetual "ride along" - strapped to the front of a VIA rail train.


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