All day long I've been digesting the news that 17 suspected terrorists were arrested here in Toronto accused of obtaining three times the amount of explosives used in the Oklahoma City bombing. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested the suspects on terrorism charges including plotting attacks with explosives on Canadian targets. According to today's Star, the suspects attended a terrorist training camp north of Toronto and had plotted to attack the Canadian spy agency's downtown Toronto office, among other targets in Ontario.
Yikes. Three tons of ammonium nitrate and "a violent ideology inspired by al-Qaida". I keep thinking back to that hit-list Osama bin Laden ran off. It included the United States, Britain, Spain, Australia and Canada. Of those five nations, only Canada has yet to be attacked. Many have said an attack against Canada is imminent. Toronto is the most likely target.
These 17 arrests were the result of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, federal agencies such as the Canada Border Services Agency and Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and provincial and municipal police services working in unison. It's good to see these groups working together to prevent these attacks, forming an alliance to help defeat the dark side. Perhaps such synergy with sufficient preemptive intelligence and due dilligence will thwart future attacks, ensuring the inevitable never materializes? We can only hope and pray.
