Affluent Toronto man faces terrorism charges
Affluent Toronto man faces terrorism charges
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Mon Jan 11, 1:25 PM
And his lawyer says his client was "entrapped by police."???
GOOD!!!!!
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http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/10011..._justice_trial
OTTAWA (AFP) - A Toronto man who earned a six-figure salary as a computer programmer appeared in court on Monday for the first day of his trial on charges of plotting to attack Canada's main stock exchange and other targets.
Shareef Abdelhaleem, 34, is accused of conspiring to bomb Canada's main stock exchange, spy agency offices and a military base in order to try to provoke Canada's withdrawal from Afghanistan.
He was arrested with 17 alleged Islamic extremists in a police sting operation in 2006 after the group sought to purchase three tonnes of bomb-making ingredient ammonium nitrate from undercover police officers.
While his co-conspirators were impressionable young men with modest means, bent on destruction and mayhem for "religiously-inspired political purposes," prosecutors say Abdelhaleem was motivated primarily by financial gain.
Born in the Middle East, Abdelhaleem moved to Canada with his family in the 1980s.
According to reports, he saw an opportunity to profit from blowing up the Toronto Stock Exchange by short-selling stocks before the bombings and reap a windfall that could be used to fund more terror attacks abroad.
The plan was "to affect the economy, to make it lose half a trillion dollars," said the daily Globe and Mail, citing court documents.
Police said Abdelhaleem was taped describing the plot to detonate a fertilizer bomb to destroy three blocks around the Toronto Stock Exchange to a paid police informant posing as a co-conspirator.
The informant reportedly wore a wire at their frequent meetings at coffee shops and a Chinese buffet in Toronto.
Abdelhaleem's lawyer William Naylor told the Globe and Mail his client had been "entrapped" by police.
