SOO MAAL Posted July 14, 2006 'Devout Muslim' informer helped in Toronto terrorism-related arrests Last Updated Thu, 13 Jul 2006 23:56:25 EDT CBC News Mubin Shaikh spoke exclusively to Linden McIntyre of CBC's The Fifth Estate. (CBC) A paid police informant who calls himself "an observant Muslim" infiltrated a group of men and youths arrested last month and charged with plotting to carry out bomb attacks and kidnappings around southern Ontario, CBC News has learned. Mubin Shaikh spoke exclusively to Linden McIntyre of CBC's The Fifth Estate. (CBC) The informant, who spoke exclusively to Linden McIntyre of CBC's The Fifth Estate, is 29-year-old Mubin Shaikh, a prominent member of Toronto's Indo-Canadian Muslim community. He was born in Canada to immigrant parents. Press reports say Shaikh will testify at the trials of the 12 men and five youths who have been charged in the case. They were arrested in early June. Bail hearings for the accused have been taking place in a court in Brampton, Ont., just west of Toronto. Police say members of the group bought large quantities of fertilizer to make explosives and planned a series of attacks in Ontario because they were angry about the plight of Muslims in other countries. Shaikh told CBC News that he had worked undercover for the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service and the police for more than two years, much of that time with the suspects in the alleged bomb plots. Shaikh, a former army cadet and Canadian Armed Forces reservist, describes the suspects as "fruitcakes...with the capacity to do some real damage." He said what he heard about the plans by the group was similar to what police and prosecutors have alleged, that there were plans to kidnap prominent Canadians and bomb such targets as the Toronto Stock Exchange and the CBC building in Toronto. He said he was moved to become an informer by concerns about the impact of the plot on all Canadians and particularly on the country's Muslim community. "My interests were about Islam and Muslims, even and above Canada," he said. Shaikh said he consulted the Qur'an and senior Muslim religious leaders before going undercover and becoming an informer. "God says in the Qur'an that we must value one life," he said, "I was guided, I had my licence." Shaikh has declined formal protection as a court witness after consulting a lawyer, saying he was working for the safety of Canadians and Muslims, not for the police. Defence lawyers for the 17 accused say the government's case has many flaws and questions are already being raised about the role of informers. "It's going to depend on the disclosure and what role the operative played," defence lawyer and legal activist Paul Copeland told the Toronto Star. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SOO MAAL Posted July 14, 2006 Muslim community reacts angrily SONYA FATAH From Friday's Globe and Mail Members of Toronto's diverse Muslim community reacted angrily to the identification of Mubin Shaikh as an RCMP and CSIS agent. “This is like the pot calling the kettle black,†said Tarek Fatah, communications director for the Canadian Muslim Congress. “He was the embodiment of extremism in the city. He was the exponent of sharia law in the city.†Indeed, Mr. Sheikh has been a chief proponent of sharia law, lobbying for using the Islamic legal code at the Al-Noor Mosque, where he ran the Al-Noor Arbitration Centre, the only such centre in Canada. “He was supporting some of the most extremist groups in Canada. Now, he's throwing up modern and Canadian values. “It brings into question whether he's trying to salvage his own problems with the authorities.†Mr. Fatah says that Mr. Shaikh's divisive views on the Muslim community hardly represent Canadian values. A different but equally damning view was expressed by Aly Hindy, the controversial imam of the Salahuddin Islamic Centre in Scarborough, attended by some of the 17 arrested youth. Imam Hindy sees CSIS as a vehicle for radicalizing young people by infiltrating youth Muslim communities. “The government and the people keep saying that we should not make our young people radical. CSIS is the one radicalizing the youth. I call him CSIS Shaikh.†Mr. Hindy learned about Mr. Shaikh's involvement as an agent in the terror case through members of the community, including parents of some of the accused. An angry Mr. Hindy retaliated by saying that Mubin Shaikh was planted to radicalize young people. “He was someone more knowledgeable about Islam. He has knowledge in Arabic. He has knowledge of the sharia. I saw this. “We once had an open house in Mississauga. He talked to the men. He brought a lot of books. He had a lot of knowledge.†Mr. Hindy says the young men were impressed by Mr. Shaikh. When news of Mr. Shaikh's involvement reached him, he had flashbacks of moments when he saw Mr. Shaikh making an effort with youth at his mosque. “I remember I was standing outside Salahuddin. And he was standing there, playing with a lot of young people. Some of those guys got arrested.†He recalls Mr. Shaikh attending high-level imam meetings, which he now believes were meant to source information. Mr. Hindy alleges that Mr. Shaikh once told Salahuddin community members that the reason he didn't attend the mosque there was out of fear of CSIS. But then, Mr. Hindy says, Mr. Shaikh started coming to the mosque. “This is not an informer,†he says angrily. “An informer is a good citizen who finds information and tells the law something is about to happen. This is dirty.†Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SOO MAAL Posted July 14, 2006 The making of a terror mole How a sharia activist infiltrated the 'Toronto 17' and helped authorities build a case against them SONYA FATAH and GREG MCARTHUR AND SCOTT ROBERTS From Friday's Globe and Mail TORONTO — One night in October, a group of young Muslims gathered at a Toronto banquet hall and tried to raise money for two men who had recently been convicted of gun smuggling and imprisoned. The event was supposed to help their cause — but it may end up being remembered as the night that Canada's first home-grown Islamist terror cell came crashing down. Among the men and women gathered in the room was an outsider named Mubin Shaikh, 30. He didn't attend the same Mississauga or Scarborough mosques as the supporters in the hall, and he didn't know many of the people in the room. But he had instructions: Get to know Fahim Ahmad, the young man believed by authorities to be behind the gun-smuggling operation and an emerging terrorist cell. The outsider approached Mr. Ahmad and told him about his training as a six-year member of the Royal Canadian Army Cadets. He told him about his survival skills and weapons training. He also told Mr. Ahmad that he believed firmly in jihad. By the end of the evening, Mr. Shaikh was in. That was 10 months ago, and since then, in media reports around the world, Mr. Ahmad has been identified as the ringleader of the so-called “Toronto 17,†the group of men and teenagers tied into an alleged plot to blow up three targets in Southern Ontario and storm Parliament Hill. This is the story of the 18th man, the civilian mole and devout Muslim paid by CSIS and the RCMP to infiltrate Mr. Ahmad's circle and thwart an alleged plot to blow up those targets. Over a series of discussions with The Globe and Mail, Mr. Shaikh detailed his motives for bringing down the alleged terrorist cell. Above all, violence in Canada in the name of Islam cannot be tolerated, said Mr. Shaikh, who says he has learned to juggle his fierce commitment to both Islam and the secular values of Canadian society. On one hand, he is an official at his west-end mosque, supports the jihads in Afghanistan and Iraq and was one of the most public supporters of the failed bid to introduce sharia law in Ontario, occasionally commenting on the debate on television. On the other, he is also a onetime member of the York South-Weston Liberal Riding Association, whose family keeps a sticker of the Canadian flag on their mailbox. “As a practising Muslim, the interests of the Muslim community are paramount,†Mr. Shaikh said. “And as a Canadian, the safety and security of my fellow citizens is also primary.†--------- Mr. Shaikh started his new job more than two years ago when his Ottawa friend, 27-year-old Momin Khawaja, was arrested by the RCMP and accused of taking part in a foiled United Kingdom bomb plot. Mr. Shaikh said he contacted the authorities because he thought he might be able to help in their investigation, and before long, he was put through the most rigorous of job interviews. There was a polygraph test and some strange fact-gathering assignments. He also said he sought permission from his imam to join ranks with Canada's spy service — permission that was granted. As far as he could tell, he was one of the few bearded and brown-skinned employees of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, but he says he never picked up any anti-Islamist sentiment. The agents' only concern was the welfare of Canada, he said. He soon became accustomed to the routine of being an agent: wearing a wire and flying to remote locations. One mission to Yemen to infiltrate a training camp, he said, ended unsuccessfully when authorities there didn't let him enter the country. Instead, Mr. Shaikh spent five days detained at the airport. Eventually, CSIS brought him back home. He financed his work by going to secret locations and receiving cash handoffs. Those payments increased when he inserted himself into Mr. Ahmad's circle — and so did the stakes. Only two months after the banquet hall meeting, Mr. Shaikh joined Mr. Ahmad and some other young men on a 160-kilometre road trip to a snow-covered forest in Ramara Township, population 15,000. For two weeks over the Christmas holidays, young men in military fatigues wandered around in the wilderness firing paintball guns and real guns and annoying the neighbours. One of those neighbours was a grey-haired recluse who doesn't own a phone. He was so annoyed that he left his trailer and travelled down the dirt road where the campers had parked their cars. He wrote down the licence plate numbers of the four cars blocking his road and filed the information with the rest of the scattered documents he keeps in his Dodge minivan. Six months later, a few days after the campers were arrested and accused of being terrorists, the hermit handed the licence plate numbers to a Globe reporter who went to see the training camp for himself. Almost all of the licence plates made sense. Three of them 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 terrorism charges. But there was a fourth licence plate, attached to a blue minivan, that didn't fit. It was registered to Mr. Shaikh's younger brother, Abu Shaikh. ------ Even with his extensive training on how to be clandestine, Mubin Shaikh does not blend in well at Toronto's busiest intersection, the corner of Front and Bay Streets. His long beard, which ends just below his pectoral muscles, and his k urta, a flowing grey robe, are in stark contrast with the commuters in collared shirts who whiz by on their way to the GO Train. He stands on the corner describing his “surreal†predicament to a Globe reporter. Since the beginning of the investigation, he's had to repeatedly prove his loyalty to both his employer and his emir, Mr. Ahmad. One day during the investigation, he was driving Mr. Ahmad somewhere while being followed by undercover police officers. When Mr. Ahmad noted that they were being tailed, the agent weaved through lanes of traffic, trying to shake off the people who pay his salary, he said. He is also, he said, fearful of any reprisals that may stem from his co-operation in the case. Many people in the Muslim community suspect he was involved and the agent worries that a tiny fraction of them might take issue with him. But he's prepared to be scrutinized by all of his Canadian Muslim brothers and the defence lawyers of the accused, who will no doubt vigorously examine him about the $77,000 he says he's earned, and the $300,000 he's says he's owed. He acknowledged that his past isn't completely unblemished, and that he didn't completely embrace Islam until he was a young man after making trips to India, Pakistan and the Middle East. He is now a married father, and his wife, a Polish convert to Islam, is expecting another child. Some parts of his past, and his family's past, will surely be revealed in court if the cases make it to trial. Last year, his father was charged with sexual assault after a woman said she had been fondled by an Islamic chaplain who was supposed to be counselling her through a divorce. The outcome of that case is unknown to The Globe. When asked about the accusation against his father, whose name is Mohammad Shahied Shaikh, Mr. Shaikh said he didn't want to discuss it. The RCMP mole was also once a witness at a friend's second-degree murder trial and his testimony was the subject of an appeal. Mr. Shaikh was also once accused of assaulting his aunt and was charged criminally, Mr. Shaikh told The Globe. Those charges were dropped, Mr. Shaikh said, adding that his credibility will remain intact with people who truly know him. “Let the courts do their thing, and the evidence will come out there,†he said. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
General Duke Posted July 14, 2006 Interesting piece, the man seems to be saving his own skin, but who knows... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SOO MAAL Posted July 14, 2006 Terrorism & Security posted July 13, 2006 at 12:45 p.m. Is using informants in terror cases entrapment? Recent cases raise legal debate over 'preemptive' law enforcement vs. 'thought police.' By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com A well-know member of Toronto's Muslim community, whose name cannot be revealed under Canadian law, infiltrated an alleged terrorist cell that investigators say was planning to attack sites in Canada. The Toronto Star reports that sources say the man first worked for Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS), and "then became a paid RCMP [Royal Canadian Mounted Police] agent once a criminal investigation was launched." The Star says involvement by paid informers in such cases will likely raise legal questions. What is the credibility of the agents? Why did they agree to work for police? How involved were they in the alleged planning of the attacks? "It's going to depend on the disclosure and what role the operative played," says Paul Copeland, an experienced Toronto criminal lawyer and police watchdog, who is representing one of the 17 accused. "The issue that could arise is the potential of entrapment. It's not appropriate for police to encourage a crime and then arrest those suspected of committing that crime." The Star points out that Australia's first terrorist trial ended in acquittal for the accused last year when evidence showed that an undercover police informant had offered the accused $3000 to make a 'terrorist' video. The jury found that Zeky Mallah was not a terrorist, but a "troubled orphan full of bravado." Sign up to be notified daily: Find out more. Subscribe via RSS Feed: What is this? The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that more recently in the US, questions have arisen over the role played by an FBI informant. Defense attorneys have said they will show that the informant had concocted part of the plot that the seven Miami-area men are accused of planning. "It was the FBI that provided the boots, the cameras, the van and the warehouse for these individuals," said Roderick Vereen, who represents [stanley Grant Phanor]. [Naudimar Herrera]'s attorney Richard Houlihan said [defendant Narseal Batiste] might have invented the alleged conspiracy to scam Al Qaeda out of money. "It is a very, extremely weak case," Houlihan said. But New York Magazine reported in December 2004 that an undercover officer and a paid Muslim informant played key roles in the arrests of two men who wanted to blow up the Herald Square subway station in New York. One of the men in the case, Shahawar Matin Siraj, was convicted in May and now awaits sentencing. The Associated Press reported over the weekend that police authorities are acting quickly on cases, where those arrested were often only in the talking stages of planning a plot, and often hadn't done anything to bring it to fruition. "We don't wait until someone has lit the fuse (to) step in and prevent something from happening. That would be playing games with peoples' lives," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Friday as Assem Hammoud's arrest in Lebanon [for allegedly plotting to blow up tunnels in New York] was being announced. On the other hand, AP reports, some terrorism experts say the arrests of minor figures are carried out for other reasons. Joseph Cirincione, a national security analyst for the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, said he worried that the arrests of rather minor conspirators were being played up for political purposes. "This is starting to look like the president's version of rounding up the usual suspects," he said. "There is a pattern of dramatic announcements, followed by revelations that these plots weren't as serious as we all initially thought." Stratfor, the intelligence and security organization, writes that this approach of "rolling up" suspects before they actually do anything dangerous can be best described as the "broken windows" [subscription needed] approach to fighting terrorism. That is, there is a belief that if authorities come down hard on all "potential threats" before they become "imminent threats," terrorist attacks can be pre-empted and prevented, rather than merely prosecuted. Startfor writes that while some argue using this approach the government "looks foolish when it hypes the arrests of such suspects," it is a "prudent use of scarce law enforcement resources." For example, the government could have chosen to monitor the suspects in the "Miami Seven" case for years – waiting for an imminent threat to develop – before stepping in to make arrests. For example, it might be recalled that Narseal Batiste and his associates in the Miami case were believed to be trying to make contact with Al Qaeda for logistical support and training, but were subverted by an informant who contacted federal authorities. It would have been difficult for law enforcement to avoid following up on the tip; had it done so, the efforts to contact Al Qaeda likely would have continued and perhaps eventually would have succeeded. But long-term surveillance and monitoring also chews up quantities of man-hours and resources. Moreover, there is always a chance that the cell in question could somehow burn or fool the informant and manage to carry out an attack, despite being under surveillance by authorities. (This is obviously an outcome that no government law enforcement official would want to have to explain to the next "9/11 Commission.") But in a commentary in the Turkish online paper Zaman, Ronnie D. Lipschutz, a professor of politics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, argues that the above "broken windows" approach basically amounts to the same thing as the "thought police," as depicted in the movie "Minority Report" or as in the George Orwell novel "1984," where even thinking about committing a crime amounts to actually committing one. The end result of this kind of approach, Mr. Lipschutz argues, is that you may end up creating more terrorism, rather than less. Who amongst us has not thought, at one time or another, about violence or revenge, for real or imagined insults? How many among us have, perhaps merely out of idle curiosity, looked on the internet for information on bomb-making? And who has not discussed with friends and acquaintances what we might do under certain circumstances? Today, around the world, there are hundreds of millions of people who have the capacity for destructive acts, and a very much smaller number who will follow through. Short of arresting everyone in the first group, how can we tell them apart from the second? If the distinction is based on what people say to each other, whether on the phone, in person, or in e-mails, a great deal of surveillance is required. If the distinction rests on what people might be thinking, detection is even more difficult. Finally, arresting people for what they think or talk about might, in fact, drive more to the cause of jihadism. After all, if you risk arrest, interrogation and indefinite imprisonment for what you think and believe, why not go all the way? Finally, the BBC reported last week that many Arab and Muslims citizens in the US believe "they are being indiscriminately targeted" by an "over-zealous use of the law," especially powers enacted under the Patriot Act. The BBC highlights the case of Ben Kahla, who was acquitted on a charge of training to fight with the Taliban and firing weapons in Afghanistan, but is now being brought before a grand jury on two charges of perjury. After the not-guilty verdict, the prosecutor who had tried the original case also brought him in front of two other grand juries to ask him the same questions that he had in the trial. Mr. Kahla is asking that all charges be dropped. "This is not the America I know. Maybe this is what Jewish people felt with the Nazis and people in Russia experienced under Stalin," he said. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SOO MAAL Posted July 14, 2006 Mounties had mole in alleged terror cell Exclusive: Law prohibits publication of prominent member of Muslim community Jul. 13, 2006. 05:23 AM MICHELLE SHEPHARD STAFF REPORTER A well-known member of Toronto's Muslim community worked as a police agent to infiltrate an alleged terrorism cell that police say was planning attacks in Canada, the Toronto Star has learned. Although his identity is now known within the community and also to some of the 17 terrorism suspects arrested June 2, his name cannot be published due to Canadian laws. Sources say the man worked for the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service, and then became a paid RCMP agent once a criminal investigation was launched. It's an offence under the Witness Protection Program Act to disclose the name of an RCMP agent. While the names of sources in national security cases are often protected, this witness has agreed to testify in open court when his identity will be made public, sources say. His name has not been revealed during court proceedings now underway to determine if any of the 17 accused will be released on bail. A publication ban prevents the reporting of any evidence heard during the bail hearings. When contacted by the Star, the police agent said he did not want to talk about the case, saying that "justice should be served," and he looked forward to testifying in court. Last month the Star revealed the involvement of a second police agent in the case, who allegedly took part in the delivery of three tonnes of ammonium nitrate. Police claim seven of the suspects were involved in the alleged plot to use the fertilizer to create truck bombs destined for targets in southern Ontario. Since police were aware of the alleged purchase, they arranged for the switch of ammonium nitrate for a harmless substance before delivery, sources said. Twelve adults and five youths have been charged with belonging to what police call a "homegrown" terrorist cell. Most of the suspects are Canadians and under the age of 25. It's alleged that the group split earlier this year into two smaller sections. One group allegedly consisted of suspects who lived west of Toronto and were led by Zakaria Amara. Police have charged six of the adult suspects and one youth in the alleged plot to blow up targets in Toronto and elsewhere in the province. The other group was allegedly led by 21-year-old Scarborough resident Fahim Ahmed, who allegedly rented a car for two other suspects who were caught last August bringing guns and ammunition into Canada from the U.S. The involvement of hired agents in the case shows that undercover moles are now being used in terrorism cases in Canada — a common technique used in organized crimes investigations and increasingly in domestic security cases worldwide. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- `The investigative techniques aren't new. But the application for terrorism is.' Mike McDonnell, RCMP Assistant Commissioner -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The fact that the police agent who allegedly infiltrated the group worked for both CSIS and the RCMP seems to suggest a new level of co-operation between the two agencies that have been beset by turf wars in the past. With the agents' involvement also comes a series of legal questions, likely to be posed by defence lawyers representing the 17 suspects. What is the credibility of the agents? Why did they agree to work for police? How involved were they in the alleged planning of the attacks? "It's going to depend on the disclosure and what role the operative played," says Paul Copeland, an experienced Toronto criminal lawyer and police watchdog, who is representing one of the 17 accused. "The issue that could arise is the potential of entrapment. It's not appropriate for police to encourage a crime and then arrest those suspected of committing that crime." It's an issue that has confronted prosecutors in international cases that involved police agents or undercover officers. Australia's first terrorism trial ended in an acquittal last year after jurors heard that a police agent working for the country's spy service, and posing as a journalist, had offered 21-year-old terrorism suspect Zek Mallah $3,000 for a videotape of him uttering threats against government buildings. In acquitting him of the terrorism charges, the jury concluded that Mallah was not a terrorist, but a troubled orphan full of bravado. The involvement of an FBI informant in case of seven Miami men charged with terrorism offences two weeks ago has been criticized by some of the defence lawyers who argue that the agent had concocted part of the case. The men are accused of plotting to blow up Chicago's Sears Tower and federal buildings in five cities, and of having ties to Al Qaeda. Lawyer Nathan Clark told the New York Times that his client was "induced by the government," calling the case one of "entrapment." But the involvement of an undercover officer and informant in a New York case led to a conviction this May and was trumpeted as a milestone in the city's fight against terrorism. The trial of Shahawar Matin Siraj, convicted of plotting to blow up a subway station, revealed that an Egyptian-born police officer and undercover agent were instrumental in the case. RCMP Assistant Commissioner Mike McDonnell said yesterday that he could not speak specifically about the Toronto terrorism case but noted that the use of police informers was not unique in Canadian criminal law and have been used successfully in past organized crime cases. What makes the case unique is the fact that terrorism offences were introduced to Canada's criminal code in 2001, bringing the Mounties back into security, a field from which they had been ousted two decades earlier with the creation of CSIS. "The investigative techniques aren't new," McDonnell said in an interview. "But the application for terrorism is." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ElPunto Posted July 14, 2006 ^I can't figure out whether he did this to save his own skin or if he is sincere. Questions will always remain Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
