Toronto "terrorist" roundup - 19 young Muslims arrested. Coincidence? That would have to be some coincidence considering it's happened before in Canada, and 19 were arrested in the 9/11 plot. UPDATE April 2008:  Two of the 19 who were arrested on June 2 and 3, 2006 were Americans and are listed separately below.  One person, Ibrahim Aboud, was arrested two months later on August 3, 2006, has been added to make a total of 20 arrestees, 18 of them being tried in Canada. Charges against 7 of the Canadians have been dropped, leaving 11 cases still to be dealt with. Here are the 19 arrested (June 2, 3, 2006): See also: Word sketches of accused  and Toronto "Terrorist" Arrests main page Arrested and tried in the US - 2 males who are said to be connected to the Toronto group: 1. Syed Ahmed 2. Ehsanul Sadequee Both men traveled from Atlanta to Canada in March 2005 to meet with three men who were the subjects of an FBI international terrorism investigation, an FBI agent said, according to an affidavit unsealed in April. Arrested in Canada June 2 and 3, 2006 - 12 adults and 5 minors - all male.  The 5 minors cannot be named and 3 of them were later released. 1. Fahim Ahmad, 21, Toronto; 2. Zakaria Amara, 20, Mississauga, Ont.; 3. Asad Ansari, 21, Mississauga; 4. Shareef Abdelhaleen, 30, Mississauga; 5. Qayyum Abdul Jamal, 43, Mississauga; - Charges stayed April 14, 2008 6. Mohammed Dirie, 22, Kingston, Ont.; - already in jail for smuggling firearms from US 7. Yasim Abdi Mohamed, 24, Kingston - already in jail for smuggling firearms from US - Charges stayed April 14, 2008 8. Jahmaal James, 23, Toronto; 9. Amin Mohamed Durrani, 19, Toronto; 10. Steven Vikash Chand alias Abdul Shakur, 25, Toronto; 11. Ahmad Mustafa Ghany, 21, Mississauga;  - Charges stayed April 14, 2008 12. Saad Khalid (Saad Gaya), 19, of Eclipse Avenue, Mississauga. Arrested in Canada August 3, 2006: 13. Ibrahim Aboud, 19, Mississauga - Charges stayed April 14, 2008 Of the five minors, three have had their charges stayed. ======================== Here's an article about another 19 arrested in 2003,  all of whom were sent back home, with no charges laid: http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2003/08/22/166497-cp.html Nineteen suspected of terrorist links have federal detention review this week Mon, August 25, 2003 By MARLENE HABIB TORONTO (CP) - Federal immigration officials have set aside two days this week for a review of the detention of 19 men with suspected terrorist links. The men were arrested Aug. 14, the day a massive power outage hit Ontario and parts of the United States, and are currently being held at the Maplehurst Correctional Centre in Milton, Ont., west of Toronto. They had their first detention review last week, when it was decided they would remain at the facility, Charles Hawkins, a spokesman for the Toronto region of the Immigration and Refugee Board, said Monday after releasing the names of the men. Their next detention review is to be held Wednesday and Thursday at Maplehurst and is expected to decide whether they will continue to be held, and on what terms, said Hawkins. The arrests were carried out in the Toronto area by police from several forces acting in partnership with Citizenship and Immigration Canada in a bust known as Project Thread, according to a four-page summary of the case by the federal government. There have been no criminal charges laid, the RCMP has said, and federal officials said there's no indication any of the arrested were about to commit a terrorist act when apprehended. But the RCMP are continuing their inquiries into possible terrorist threats, a spokesman for Solicitor General Wayne Easter said Friday. Last week, top Ontario government and public safety officials expressed concern about a report that one of the arrested men had been enrolled in a flight school where training involved flying over the Pickering nuclear power plant. Two other men were once found loitering outside the facility in April last year. The majority of the men are between ages 18 and 33, federal records show. All but one of the 19 are from the Punjab province in Pakistan. What seems to connect all the detained men is a facility known as the Ottawa Business College. The federal document outlining reasons for detaining the men concludes that the business college is "not a legitimate school." "Foreign students and others could purchase acceptance letters, transcripts and diplomas for a fee without ever attending classes," says the document, adding that almost 400 student files were seized from the college by investigators who "began to see an alarming trend with respect to the foreign students." The men are alleged to have lied about their status and gained or maintained their status in Canada fraudulently. All entered Canada before Sept. 5, 2001 - several days before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks - and some have been in the country for more than five years. Lawyers for three of the men have said they've had difficulty getting information on the precise allegations against their clients. Mohammed Syed, a lawyer for two brothers who are now in detention, said the evidence against them is "flimsy." Syed would not release the names of his clients. "My two clients are brothers, and they're well-established Canadian citizens with no affiliation with any extremist groups or anything of that sort," said Syed.   yayacanada Main Page for Terror Roundups