Mounties charge three in terror investigation
Two of the Ottawa men, including John Maguire, already fighting overseas with Islamic State
OTTAWA— The Mounties have laid terror charges against three men, disrupting a network they allege was involved in recruiting young people and sending them to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside Islamic State extremists.
Two of those charged Tuesday have already gone overseas as “active” members of the Islamic State group, including Ottawa resident John Maguire, who has appeared in propaganda videos for the terror organization.
Police painted a picture of a complex investigation as they attempted to pierce the social networks where radicalization is unfolding.
“They are networks that come together at times and then split apart,” said Chief Supt. Jennifer Strachan, the officer responsible for the RCMP’s criminal operations in Ontario.
“It’s a complex environment. People are coming. They are communicating regularly and you really have to move forward when we have the evidence to support the charges,” she said.
She said the probe into these networks — which also resulted in the arrests of two Ottawa brothers last month — could result in more spinoff investigations.
The RCMP investigation, dubbed “Project Servant,” began in December 2012 when Maguire left Canada for Syria and a few months after the Islamic State, also known as ISIL, which now controls a large swath of Iraq and Syria, was listed as a terrorist group in Canada.
Maguire, 23, has been one of the high-profile Canadian adherents to the group, posting slick online videos hoping to recruit others. In one propaganda video, he warned that the fatal attacks on two Canadian soldiers in October were a direct result of Canada’s military involvement in Iraq and that more attacks could be coming. Maguire was charged Tuesday with facilitating an activity for a terrorist group.
Khadar Khalib, 23, of Ottawa, was charged with leaving Canada to participate in the activities of a terrorist group and with counselling a person to participate in an activity of a ter- rorist group. Khalib is also believed to have travelled overseas. Both men were charged in absentia.
Awso Peshdary, 25, of Ottawa, was taken into custody Tuesday, charged with participation in the activity of a terrorist group and with facilitating an activity for a terrorist group.
All three were also charged with conspiring to participate or to contribute in an activity of a terrorist group.
When Maguire travelled to Turkey in December 2012 and joined the Islamic State, Peshdary aspired to travel with him overseas but remained in Canada, Strachan said.
“Peshdary stayed in contact with Maguire and together they entered into a conspiracy to send other Canadians to Syria to join (the Islamic State),” Strachan said.
That included Khalib, who travelled to Syria last March and joined the group. Strachan said the investigation turned up communications among the three, along with photographs, videos and comments on social media revealing their support or involvement with the Islamic State.
A former Syrian member of the Islamic State who spoke to the Toronto Star last month in Gaziantep, a Turkish town near Syria’s border, said he met Maguire last year in Raqqa, the group’s stronghold.
“He was a happy guy all the time. He would carry the kids around, joking with them,” said Ahmed, 22, who asked that only his first name be used since he is at risk since defecting from the Islamic State. “We didn’t talk about religion but we talked a lot.”
Although pro-Islamic State Twitter accounts have reported Maguire’s death, there has been no official conformation, Strachan said. “This is why we laid charges in absentia.”
One of the fears among intelligence officials is that Canadians who have gone abroad may try to fake their own deaths so they can sneak back into the country under a false passport to launch a domestic attack.
Peshdary had been connected with another terrorism case in 2010 that the RCMP called “Project Samossa.” The Iraqi-born student had been held in the case but was later released. Two of the three other men arrested in the case — which involved a plot to build explosives in Canada to use against local targets and allied forces in Afghanistan — were con- victed.
Peshdary had been an activist at Algonquin College, where he complained about the discrimination of Muslim students.
Amarnath Amarasingam, one of Canada’s top academic researchers regarding the Islamic State foreign fighters, said Peshdary’s outspoken views were well-known. “A lot of community members were pointing to him as a possible recruiter. He had the credibility from the previous investigation and was charismatic enough to lead the others down that path, so it wasn’t a surprise his name was included.”
Khalib was a friend of Maguire’s and there are reports Peshdary knew Ottawa twins Ashton and Carlos Larmond, who were charged with similar terror offences last month.
Asmall group of friends or acquaintances deciding to fight abroad — or plan attacks at home — is a pattern seen often with the Islamic State’s recruitment.