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  • Canada disrupted 12 terrorist cells

    http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNew..._name=&no_ads=

    RCMP foiled 12 terror cells since 2004: report
    Updated Wed. Jun. 7 2006 11:33 PM ET

    CTV.ca News Staff

    Quietly and without fanfare, the RCMP has been disrupting the work of suspected terrorists, breaking up at least 12 terrorist groups in the past two years, a newspaper report claims.

    Police techniques have ranged from the deportation of non-residents for security reasons, to blocking suspicious individuals from crossing the border, to denying charitable status to suspicious groups, according to a report in Wednesday's The Globe and Mail.

    Sometimes the 'disruption' is as simple as letting a suspicious group or individual know they are being watched.

    The information was contained in a briefing report prepared for Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day in February obtained by The Globe through the Freedom of Information Act.

    The document does not provide details of the 12 so-called disruptions, but the RCMP says the threat of terrorist activity in Canada and outside of the nation's borders has been reduced because of the police efforts.

    The document says "there has not been a border-related national security threat against either the government of Canada or the United States or the general population" since Integrated Border Enforcement Teams were established between the two nations in 1996.

    CSIS spokeswoman Barbara Campion told The Globe that investigators have a responsibility to act against perceived terrorist threats "before these individuals have the opportunity to carry out their terrorist plans."

    Unlike the recent arrests of 17 members of an alleged Toronto-area terrorist group, which grabbed headlines and captured attention around the world, most of the "disruptions" go unreported and the general public never hears about them, the newspaper says.

    The concept of disrupting a terror cell before its members have the chance to strike represents a shift in law enforcement thinking.

    Traditionally, investigators strive to collect information and build a case to use against a suspect once he has been arrested. But now, senior investigators are seeing the value of stopping a suspected plot in its early days, rather than after a crime has been committed.

    The document mostly looks at terrorism as a global phenomenon, with few references to the threat of an attack from within Canada.

    However, one paragraph describes the development of "dozens of loosely structured networks," considered the next generation of the al Qaeda terrorist network, often operating independently and without direct guidance from a central command post.

    An unnamed source who has access to top-level security documents told The Globe terrorist recruitment is more common than most people think.

    "Let me put it this way, before this event, it was more widespread than most people believed," the source said, referring to last weekend's arrests.

    Police, however, face the dilemma of stopping those who preach or promote hatred, but don't actually break the law.

    That may be best accomplished through undercover, preventative methods such as the infiltration of suspected terror cells, but also through more overt methods in the case of those who promote hatred or violence.

    In a recent appearance on CTV's Question Period, Day said he recognizes the importance of engaging the community in preventing future terrorist activity, and said he plans to meet with leaders from various multi-cultural groups in the coming days.
    Facts to a liberal is like Kryptonite to Superman.

    -- Larry Elder
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