Canadian authorities say they intercepted a would-be bomber just in time to stop a terrorist attack.
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The tip included a “martyrdom” video that showed a masked suspect – later identified by Canadian police as Driver – saying he planned to detonate an explosive device in an urban centre during morning or afternoon rush hour.
A senior police official said late Wednesday, Aug. 10, a suspect allegedly planned to use a bomb to carry out a suicide bombi.
They included two members of the Islamic State group, a British youth arrested for his involvement in a terror plot targeting Australia, and Elton Simpsonone of two Americans who launched an attack on a Texas exhibition of caricatures of Islam’s Prophet previous year. “Oh Canada, you received many warnings, you were told many times what would become of those who fight against the Islamic State”, the man says.
In the video, Driver condemned what he called the “enemies of Islam”, threatened the “spilling of your blood” and an attack against Canada. In the interview, he justified the 2014 attacks on Parliament Hill in Ottawa that left an unarmed soldier dead and he expressed support for Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, the report added.
April 2015 – The RCMP discovers that Driver is communicating with several people of concern, including Junaid Hussain, a British hacker who US and European officials have said became a top cyber expert for Islamic State in Syria before he was killed in a drone strike, and Reyaad Khan, who the RCMP describe as a prominent member of Islamic State.
Authorities have not released details about where Driver was intending to carry out his alleged mission, but they say there is no longer a threat.
Driver was previously outfitted with a Global Positioning System tracking device, but reached a new peace bond agreement earlier this year.
Police caught Driver as he was leaving a house in a taxi Wednesday.
In 2015, the Muslim convert was arrested for communicating with militants involved with attack plots in Texas and Australia. That’s when Driver detonated the bomb, injuring himself and the taxi driver.
Before they found Driver, police notified Toronto transit and Metrolinx of a possible terror threat.
Canadian Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said he had spoken to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the events ‘to confirm that public safety has been and continues to be properly protected’.
The event serves as evidence of the cooperation held by the US and Canada on matters of anti-terrorism and law enforcement.
Goodale said his US counterpart, Loretta Lynch, saluted the quick work of the RCMP.
According to Reuters, Driver went by the alias Harun Abdurahman and had previously been arrested without charge for openly supporting IS on social media.
In 2014, Canada was stunned by two deadly attacks that police said were the work of homegrown radicals and that led to tougher new anti-terrorism measures.
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Mounties applied for a peace bond that could impose limits on Driver’s activities, alleging in provincial court documents that investigators believed he might help with terrorist group activities. “I knew he was lost but I didn’t know how far gone he was” Wayne Driver said. Later, the government announced that some of his strict bail conditions had been lifted and that he would not be going to trial.
