Two held after alleged terror plot foiled
Montreal teenagers in custody but police keep quiet on suspicions about pair
MONTREAL— Two Montreal teenagers are being held in custody after police foiled alleged plans to commit terrorist acts.
The two 18-year-olds, Sabrine Djaermane and El Mahdi Jamali, appeared briefly before a Quebec court judge Wednesday afternoon, but they will remain behind bars through to next Monday when their bail hearing will be held.
Though no criminal charges have been laid against the two junior college students, prosecutors say police are continuing their investigation and charges may yet be laid before the two return to court.
In the meantime, the RCMP has filed an application for a peace bond against Djaermane and Jamali that could place severe restrictions on their movements, communications and actions over the next year. Until recently, such a measure under the Criminal Code has been a rarely used police tactic.
But Djaermane and Jamali could bring to five the number of Canadians who have been subjected to such preventative measures in the last month alone. All were based on fears the individuals would commit terrorist acts.
The fact that the two are being kept in custody for the next several days also suggests that police feel there was an urgency about the matter and an immediate risk if they were to be released from jail.
Crown prosecutor Lyne Décarie said as much when she asked that their bail hearing be delayed because there could be what she described as “developments in the coming days.”
She told reporters that the RCMP, which handles terrorism cases in Canada, is continuing to investigate and may yet determine that criminal charges are warranted in the case.
Décarie would not provide details about the police suspicions that led to their decision to intervene.
AFacebook page maintained by Jamali shows a young man passionate about soccer and celebrating the many victories of his Montreal high school’s team, which won a Quebec provincial championship in 2014.
A woman who answered the telephone at Jamali’s listed home address refused to answer any questions about the arrest or provide further details about the young man. When pressed, she hung up the telephone.
No one would answer the telephone at the address identified as Djaermane’s residence and even less is known about her past, her current associations or activities that may have prompted the suspicions of national security investigators.
Citing sources, Montreal’s La Presse said the police were acting on a tip from the public.
The two were believed to be intent on leaving the country, but were arrested because of worries raised by their behaviour in Canada.
A neighbour at Djaermane’s Montreal apartment told the newspaper that a police vehicle and a black, unmarked van could be seen outside the residence, where officers were carrying out a search.
Aside from soccer, Jamali also expressed an interest in events held in Montreal’s Muslim community, including some run by Adil Charkaoui, a local Islamic leader once suspected by the federal government of being an Al Qaeda sleeper agent.
Charkaoui did not return telephone calls seeking comment on Wednesday, but he has been criticized in recent weeks after it was revealed that two of seven young Quebecers who left their homes for the ranks of the Islamic State in mid- January had taken part in a youth group he organized.
Like five of those seven students, Jamali and Djaermane were enrolled at Collège Maisonneuve, a CÉGEP or junior college located in Montreal’s east end, an administrator at the school confirmed.
Brigitte Desjardins refused to say what programs the two were enrolled in at the school because their teachers and fellow students had still not been notified of the police intervention Wednesday.
“It’s a very sad situation, but we’re involved in the prevention of radicalization in the hope that we can insert doubt in the heads of those who might be prone to radicalization,” Desjardins wrote in an email. “Education may be the best way to counter this unpredictable and incomprehensible phenomenon.”
It’s not known if either Jamali or Djaermane knew any members of the group who fled in mid-January or had any contact with them before or since the disappearance.
The peace bond application against the two teens is further proof that federal authorities are increasingly turning to preventative tactics in their quest to stop people who might be involving themselves in terrorism, particularly as a means of stopping those who might be tempted to flee the country to join the ranks of the Islamic State.