Mole went undercover to protect Canada, he says
Updated Fri. Jul. 14 2006 11:00 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
A prominent member of Toronto's Muslim community who worked as a police agent to infiltrate an alleged terror cell says he was moved to go undercover to protect Canada.
Mubin Shaikh went public about his role as a paid informant after the Toronto Star broke the story of his involvement in the probe into an alleged "homegrown" terrorist group.
The 30-year-old said his decision to break his silence came upon the urging of the Muslim community, who widely knew his role in the arrests of 17 terrorism suspects last month.
The accused are charged with plotting to
carry out bomb attacks and kidnappings around southern Ontario.
Shaikh told The Globe and Mail that he worked undercover for the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service and the RCMP for more than two years.
"As a practising Muslim, the interests of the Muslim community are paramount," Shaikh said.
"And as a Canadian, the safety and security of my fellow citizens is also primary."
According to a lawyer for the accused, however, Shaikh's involvement in the operation proves there is "no terroism in Canada."
Lawyer Rocco Galati says that since police did not have a case against the 17 suspects, they used an informant to "set everything up."
"They have to fabricate it," Galati said.
"I've seen some other disgusting so-called terrorist cases, but the stench of this one is starting to exude even before we get into court."
Shaikh, who was born in Toronto and
was a decorated Royal Canadian Army Cadet as a teenager, said he became dedicated to Islam about 10 years ago.
He said he contacted Canada's spy agency in 2004 after the arrest of his Ottawa friend, 27-year-old Momin Khawaja, the first person in Canada to be charged with criminal terrorism offences.
Khawaja was arrested by the RCMP and accused of taking part in a foiled United Kingdom bomb plot.
Shaikh said he contacted the authorities because he thought he might be able to help in their probe.
Last year, he said he was asked by CSIS to try to infiltrate the Toronto group by befriending alleged ringleader Fahim Ahmed.
Shaikh said he asked for the blessing of Muslim leaders before going undercover.
Once he gained Ahmed's trust, Shaikh said he helped lead what police allege was a "training camp" in Ramara Township, Ont. last December.
Police allege members of the camp dressed in military
fatigues and used guns for target practice.
One of the locals was so irritated by the group's activities that he wrote down the licence plates of four cars blocking the road.
A few days after the arrests were made, the man handed the information to a Globe reporter.
The newspaper reports that three of the licence plates were registered to the family members of Zakaria Amara, Ahmad Ghany and Qayyum Abdul Jamal -- all of whom have been taken into custody on the terror charges.
But the fourth licence plate was registered to Shaikh's younger brother, Abu Shaikh.
Shaikh says he has learned to juggle his commitment to Islam and the secular values of Canadian society.
On one hand, he is an official at his west-end mosque, supports jihad in Afghanistan and Iraq, and was one of the most vocal advocates of the failed bid to introduce sharia law in Ontario, a set of Muslim rules to settle family law
matters.
On the other hand, he is the multicultural chair for Liberal MP Alan Tonks' York South-Weston riding association.
His biography on Tonks' website reads: "Traveller, philosopher, theologian, Mubin Shaikh is not your ordinary Torontonian. At first look, one might think they've encountered an extremist but on second take, you realize you've been had!"
Shaikh, who is married to a Polish convert to Islam and has a family, has declined formal protection as a witness.
But he says he is fearful of reprisals from a tiny fraction of the Muslim community who might take issue with his involvement.
Bail hearings for the 17 accused have been taking place in a court in Brampton, Ont., just west of Toronto.
with files from Canadian Press
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