Driver was later commissioned under a peace bond to report to police twice a month and to live with his sister in Strathroy, where the incident occurred. Strathroy is on the outskirts of London, Ontario, and just 45 miles from the USA border at Sarnia-Port Huron. After that event, the Federal Bureau of Investigation identified him as a terrorist threat and started monitoring him.
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A 26-year-old ex-convict pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to plotting a New Year’s Eve machete attack at a Rochester restaurant in the name of the Islamic State terrorist group.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police say Aaron Driver, an Ontario resident, recorded a video pledging allegiance to ISIS and threatening an imminent suicide attack. Driver gave a media interview during which he expressed support for terror attacks in Canada and expressed interest in traveling to join the Islamic State. Police say he had another explosive device and was planning to detonate it as well.
The nature of Driver’s communications with the teenager, or when those communications occurred, was not revealed by Canadian police.
Police went to the home of Aaron Driver in the small town of Strathroy after receiving credible information, including a “martyrdom video”, from US authorities that he planned what could have been a “dreadful” attack, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said at a news conference.
Police said Driver planned his attack for the next 72 hours during rush hour.
After being tipped off by the FBI, Canadian police furiously worked to find out who it was. Cabana said investigators are searching Driver’s home and another location in London, Ontario.
In the video, aired during a news conference in Ottawa, a masked Driver is seen railing against western “enemies of Islam” and warning that the only solution would be the “spilling of your blood”.
Driver had been under the spotlight for at least a year, as authorities believed he was a threat because he could help terror groups.
The taxi driver escaped with minor injuries. “If he had gotten out of that residence before we got there the scenario would have ended differently, I’m confident of that”, RCMP commander Jennifer Strachan said.
“Scene containment was done, and the taxi – we had no knowledge it was coming and it got in there very quickly”, Strachan said. But officials said they never determined Driver’s intended target. Regional transit lines were also advised of a security threat.
On Thursday, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale praised law enforcement involved for their “exceptional work”.
Aaron was arrested a year ago amid an investigation developed in Winnipeg.
This is the first terrorist challenge for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who made a campaign pledge to withdraw Canada from the combat mission against the Islamic State in Iraq and instead increase commitment to training local fighters.
In February, Driver was placed on a peace bond that restricted his movements, requiring that he stay off social media and computers and banned contact with IS and other terrorist groups.
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Driver had previously been ordered to wear a Global Positioning System tracking device, but it was allowed to remove it earlier this year. He was arrested and released on numerous bail conditions eight days later.
