Notes:

*       Neighbours of Zakaria Amara saw men backing a U-Haul into Amara's
driveway on Monday, loading the vehicle, and saw a group of three unfamiliar
males leave with it the following morning


*       Dirie and Mohammed were unknown to the Muslim community of Kingston,
suggesting that they kept to themselves


*       Most of the suspects are bearded


*       Chand, aka Abdul Shakkur, rented a basement flat in a home owned by
Attique in East Toronto


*       Attique operated an Islamic bookstore from the home until last year,
when neighbours successfully petitioned to close it down

 
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060603.wterrorfamilies0
603/BNStory/Front

Accused in terrorism plot from a "broad strata" of society


GREGORY BONNELL 

Canadian Press

>From an unmarried computer programmer to a university health sciences
graduate and the unemployed, the 17 suspects charged in a foiled terrorist
plot represent a "broad strata" of Canadian society.

"Some are students, some are employed, some are unemployed," RCMP assistant
Commissioner Mike McDonell said Saturday. 

Family members wept as the 17 accused, five of whom were youths at the time
of the alleged crimes and cannot be named, were brought into a Brampton
courtroom in small groups, handcuffed and shackled at the feet.

One woman broke down, saying her son was yet to appear but that she was
upset at the sight of his friends in custody.

Most of the group, who were remanded into custody until their next court
appearance on Tuesday, wore street clothes although some appeared in white
jump suits.

The majority sported the traditional Muslim male beard.

Alvin Chand, brother of Toronto suspect Steven Vikash Chand, scoffed at the
charges outside the courthouse.

"He's not a terrorist, come on, he's a Canadian citizen" Mr. Chand said of
his brother. "The people that were arrested are good people. They go to the
mosque. They go to school, go to college."

Aly Hindy, an imam at the Salaheddin Islamic Centre in nearby Scarborough,
said the centre's mosque had been monitored by security agencies for years.
He said Muslims were once again being falsely accused.

"It's not terrorism. It could be some criminal activity with a few guys,
that's all," said Mr. Hindy.

"We are the ones always accused."

Rocco Galati, lawyer for two suspects from Mississauga, said his client
Ahmad Ghany, 21, is a health sciences graduate from McMaster University in
Hamilton. He was born in Canada, the son of a medical doctor who emigrated
from Trinidad and Tobago in 1955.

Mr. Galati said neither of his clients have criminal records and are both
"model citizens."

"Both of their families are very well-established professionals,
well-established families, no criminal pasts whatsoever," Mr. Galati said.
"That's why we're anxious to see the particulars of the allegations against
them."

The father of accused Shareef Abdelhaleen, a 30-year-old computer programmer
from nearby Mississauga, said the charges made no sense.

"I am shocked," said the Egyptian immigrant who came to Canada with his son
20 years ago and is an engineer on contract with Atomic Energy of Canada.

"It's crazy. It has no meaning whatsoever."

The senior Abdelhaleen also confirmed that he posted bail for Mohammad
Mahjoub who is currently in Kingston, Ont., on a national security
certificate.

The middle-class east-end Toronto neighbourhood that terror suspect Steven
Chand calls home is filled with children, lined with two-storey homes and
rich green, well-maintained lawns.

Area resident Casey Grenier, 32, stood with two neighbours enjoying a beer
on a porch next door to Chand's residence were unmarked cars and police
officers were parked.

"It's a real quiet neighbourhood," Grenier said. "You get up in the morning
and you hear the crickets chirping." 

Grenier said police pulled up at the residence around 4 p.m. with forensics
trucks and a SWAT team and blocked off the street. Police were seen by
neighbours leaving the residence carrying sealed Ziploc bags containing
unspecified items. 

Neighbours said Chand, also known as Abdul Shakur, rented a basement
apartment in the home, owned by Mohammad Attique, a father of five. 

Attique operated an Islamic bookstore from the home, but neighbours drew up
a petition last year calling for the business to be shut down because it was
being operated in a residential neighbourhood. 

Residents of a Mississauga, Ont., neighbourhood knew little about Zakaria
Amara, 20. Neighbours said he was an in-law of the family who lived at the
home.

Neighbours said the family, a mother and her three daughters, had lived
there for two years. They had not noticed a male figure in the house.

Tony Sbrocchi, 38, a neighbourhood resident for 10 years said he saw
individuals backing a U-Haul into the driveway of the residence and loading
up the vehicle on Monday, and that a group of three unfamiliar males left
the next morning. 

"It was very suspicious," Sbrocchi said, adding that he was unsure of what
was being loading into the truck.

While the RCMP said suspects Mohammed Dirie, 22, and Yasim Abdi Mohamed, 24,
were from Kingston, Ont., members of the city's Muslim community were at a
loss as to who the men were and what they were doing in this eastern Ontario
city. 

"I have been asking around and no one seems to know them," Hafizur Rahman,
president of the Islamic Centre of Kingston told the Ottawa Sun. 

Taking into consideration the men's ages, Rahman told the Sun they may be
students at Queen's University. 

However, Haseeb Khan, president of the Muslim Students' Association at
Queen's, also didn't recognize the men's names. 

After asking members of his executive and several students at the school
Saturday, he was still unsure whether they attend the university. 

"We don't seem to know those people at all," he said. 

Also charged are Fahim Ahmad, 21, of Toronto; Asad Ansari, 21, of
Mississauga; Qayyum Abdul Jamal, 43, of Mississauga; Jahmaal James, 23, of
Toronto; Amin Mohamed Durrani, 19, of Toronto; and Saad Khalid, 19, of
Mississauga.

With files from AP



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