Cops scared off would-be bombers, court told
Plan ‘compromised’ after encounter near railway bridge slated for attack
Raed Jaser and Chiheb Esseghaier both claimed they feared neither death nor being arrested while carrying out acts of terrorism in the name of a radical form of Islam, according to audio recordings played to the jury at their trial.
But after an unexpected brush with the police on Sept. 24, 2012 sparked a fierce argument between them — Jaser calling Esseghaier “stubborn” and “rash,” Esseghaier accusing Jaser of being a coward — Jaser refused to continue with their plot to derail a passenger train, the jury heard Tuesday.
The plan “is compromised for me,” Jaser said. “There are many other things we can do.”
Both men are on trial for terrorismrelated offences and have pleaded not guilty.
Jaser, Esseghaier and undercover FBI agent Tamer el-Noury had just returned from the Highland Creek railway bridge in Scarborough where they had a near brush with a train as they debated how best to weaken the bridge and cause a derailment.
They were making to-do lists in the car, including purchasing the items to make a video taking credit for the derailment, when police officers approached them. A train conductor had reported them walking on the tracks, one officer said; they took down the names and addresses of the three men and left.
Esseghaier remained determined to carry on with his plan to derail a passenger train, an idea he has said was passed on to him while training with “the brothers” in Iran, one of whom had ties to Al Qaeda.
They would just need to identify a new location because of their careless mistake — not driving off immediately, he said.
Jaser disagreed, arguing that the derailment plan was both unrealistic and less effective than his pet plan to shoot wealthy and prominent Jewish people and Canadian leaders. “The message, you know by derailing a train and killing a few sheep is not the same as when you take out the, you know, the vice . . . ” Jaser said.
When Esseghaier protested that the people on the train would be taxpayers, supporting the Canadian government in killing Muslims overseas, Jaser was dismissive, saying he would rather be arrested or die carrying out his sniper plan rather than the derailment plan.
In a later conversation before Esseghaier took an evening bus back to his home in Montreal, the tension between the two men — both arrested in 2013 — escalated as el-Noury tried to play peacemaker, urging both men to “chill out.”
“The devil wants you to leave the project,” Esseghaier told Jaser. “You are scared about the police and you are scared to go to jail.” Jaser suggested it was Esseghaier who feared jail, adding, “You are just not very professional, habibi.”
Jaser said he could work no longer with Esseghaier who has an “extreme ideology” and keeps “yelling and screaming.”
“Tamer, we will go search for anoth- er believer,” said Esseghaier. “We want someone who wants to give his blood to Allah, he wants to go to jail for the sake of Allah.”
“But you still have to use your head and be smart,” Jaser said. “You are not someone I can work with.”
At the end of the conversation Jaser said: “I feel very good at least delaying (the train plot) . . . to review everything.”
“You have to be smart,” he said. “You have to outsmart your enemy.”
The trial continues.