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From the Globe and Mail:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20050816.WEAPONS16/BNPrint/theglobeandmail/TopStories
'Die hard' found with arsenal
By COLIN FREEZE
Tuesday, August 16, 2005 Updated at 8:32 PM EDT
Canadian counterterrorism agents have seen their share of oddball cases. But the oddest of all may be that of Jeff Chen, a Chinese Canadian who says he recently offered his services -- and a small arsenal of vintage guns -- to a controversial Muslim leader in British Columbia.
"The fundamentalists caught my eye and one thing led to another," the 28-year-old former army reservist explained, nonchalantly, in a telephone interview yesterday from his parents' home in Richmond, B.C.
Last year, the young man whose lifelong fascination with war has survived his flirtations with at least four religions, e-mailed Younus Kathrada, a Muslim leader reportedly under scrutiny by Canada's security agencies.
In December, as he described himself as a "die hard," Mr. Chen told Mr. Kathrada in the e-mail that he was "itching to use the rifles that I have in actual combat (jihad in Middle East and elsewhere)."
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But the e-mails from Mr. Chen, who says his views have mellowed quite a bit since, didn't elicit the reaction he had hoped for. Alarmed by the strange young man seeking to wage war somewhere, Mr. Kathrada forwarded the messages to the RCMP.
As first reported in the weekly Richmond Review, four Mounties soon knocked on Mr. Chen's door. They looked underneath his bed and seized a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun, a U.S. M-1 gauge rifle, an M-1 carbine module rifle, rounds of ammunition and a pair of daggers.
Odder still, even by Mr. Chen's assessment, is what happened next. "The Crown decided not to charge me for some reason," he said. "I'm surprised. I was worried. I thought I might be charged, questioned and go to jail."
Though he faces no criminal charges, Mr. Chen has been banned from having any firearms for the next three years. His bid to get his guns back, which were all legally registered, failed in court last week.
The RCMP would not comment on the case yesterday, but Mr. Chen said that he has since been interviewed by the Mounties and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. He said they seemed more interested in the man who turned him in.
Mr. Kathrada was not available for comment yesterday. But he told the Richmond Review that "in the past I had received some e-mails that I saw as potentially, I guess, dangerous if you will, so I passed them on to the authorities basically.
"I did what I thought was right."
Mr. Kathrada says he steers Muslims away from extremism and condemns terrorism, but he made international headlines last year for a sermon in which he referred to Jews as "the brothers of the monkeys and the swine."
Lately the B.C. press has reported the RCMP's counterterrorism team is asking questions about Mr. Kathrada, but he has said that his remarks were taken out of context and that no Mounties have ever come to speak to him.
In any case, he appears to have had no misgivings about talking to the Mounties about Mr. Chen.
A graduate of the history program at the University of Victoria, he said he spent five years in the Canadian Forces reserves, which prompted his interest in buying up about $1,000 worth of vintage guns at Canadian shops.
He thinks it was highly unfair for Mr. Kathrada to forward the e-mail he sent to the RCMP. "I'm surprised why he would hand me over . . . he's a fellow Muslim.
"We're all brothers."
Mr. Chen said his views have shifted again. Like most Muslims, he said he now believes that jihad is an internal spiritual struggle, and not necessarily a military one.
He doesn't go to the mosque all that often. As a Chinese Canadian he finds he stands out.
"I mostly pray at home," he said.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20050816.WEAPONS16/BNPrint/theglobeandmail/TopStories
'Die hard' found with arsenal
By COLIN FREEZE
Tuesday, August 16, 2005 Updated at 8:32 PM EDT
Canadian counterterrorism agents have seen their share of oddball cases. But the oddest of all may be that of Jeff Chen, a Chinese Canadian who says he recently offered his services -- and a small arsenal of vintage guns -- to a controversial Muslim leader in British Columbia.
"The fundamentalists caught my eye and one thing led to another," the 28-year-old former army reservist explained, nonchalantly, in a telephone interview yesterday from his parents' home in Richmond, B.C.
Last year, the young man whose lifelong fascination with war has survived his flirtations with at least four religions, e-mailed Younus Kathrada, a Muslim leader reportedly under scrutiny by Canada's security agencies.
In December, as he described himself as a "die hard," Mr. Chen told Mr. Kathrada in the e-mail that he was "itching to use the rifles that I have in actual combat (jihad in Middle East and elsewhere)."
Advertisements
FPRIVATE "TYPE=PICT;ALT="
But the e-mails from Mr. Chen, who says his views have mellowed quite a bit since, didn't elicit the reaction he had hoped for. Alarmed by the strange young man seeking to wage war somewhere, Mr. Kathrada forwarded the messages to the RCMP.
As first reported in the weekly Richmond Review, four Mounties soon knocked on Mr. Chen's door. They looked underneath his bed and seized a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun, a U.S. M-1 gauge rifle, an M-1 carbine module rifle, rounds of ammunition and a pair of daggers.
Odder still, even by Mr. Chen's assessment, is what happened next. "The Crown decided not to charge me for some reason," he said. "I'm surprised. I was worried. I thought I might be charged, questioned and go to jail."
Though he faces no criminal charges, Mr. Chen has been banned from having any firearms for the next three years. His bid to get his guns back, which were all legally registered, failed in court last week.
The RCMP would not comment on the case yesterday, but Mr. Chen said that he has since been interviewed by the Mounties and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. He said they seemed more interested in the man who turned him in.
Mr. Kathrada was not available for comment yesterday. But he told the Richmond Review that "in the past I had received some e-mails that I saw as potentially, I guess, dangerous if you will, so I passed them on to the authorities basically.
"I did what I thought was right."
Mr. Kathrada says he steers Muslims away from extremism and condemns terrorism, but he made international headlines last year for a sermon in which he referred to Jews as "the brothers of the monkeys and the swine."
Lately the B.C. press has reported the RCMP's counterterrorism team is asking questions about Mr. Kathrada, but he has said that his remarks were taken out of context and that no Mounties have ever come to speak to him.
In any case, he appears to have had no misgivings about talking to the Mounties about Mr. Chen.
A graduate of the history program at the University of Victoria, he said he spent five years in the Canadian Forces reserves, which prompted his interest in buying up about $1,000 worth of vintage guns at Canadian shops.
He thinks it was highly unfair for Mr. Kathrada to forward the e-mail he sent to the RCMP. "I'm surprised why he would hand me over . . . he's a fellow Muslim.
"We're all brothers."
Mr. Chen said his views have shifted again. Like most Muslims, he said he now believes that jihad is an internal spiritual struggle, and not necessarily a military one.
He doesn't go to the mosque all that often. As a Chinese Canadian he finds he stands out.
"I mostly pray at home," he said.
], just what context was he thinking or referencing when he used was referring to "the brothers of the monkey's and the swine." Nice guy ... welcome to Fort NA buddy, life is about to change. 
