Beheadings, Explosions, Canadian Terror Oh My Eh?

Behead the Prime Minister? Check.
Blow up Parliment? Check.
Conduct bombings in Ontario? Check.

That's just part of the charges being levied against one of the seventeen people arrested in the anti-terror raid in Canada. The Washington Post reports:

A report in the Toronto Star said police had intercepted the fertilizer to be used in the bomb and substituted a harmless powder before the arrests were made. Police officials said Monday they stood by their statement that three tons of the fertilizer, which is highly explosive when mixed with fuel oil, was "delivered" to the bombers.

Mike McDonell, assistant commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said on Saturday that police had swooped in as the danger increased and that the detained men had the "intent and capability" to carry out the bombing.

The RCMP and intelligence agents said they had been closely watching the activities of at least some of the men for an extended period before Friday's arrests. According to their statements and reports here, several members of the group came under scrutiny as a result of political conversations on the Internet that were monitored by authorities.

The investigators' interest was heightened after the visit to Toronto in March 2005 of two men from Georgia, Syed Ahmed, 21, and Ehsanul Sadequee, 19, who were later charged under anti-terrorism laws. The men allegedly met with at least three Canadians to discuss potential bombing targets, the FBI has said. The charges revealed Monday said the terrorism activity in Canada began on March 1, 2005.

Michelle Malkin has a copy of an affadavit against Ahmed and Sadequee. Among the interesting points made in the document are that the FBI has been unable to read an encrypted CD and that there was court-authorized electronic surveillance on a phone conversation between one of the suspected jihadis and his sister.

Ed Morrissey more information and insight about the arrests and details of the law enforcement action breaking up the cell.

...investigators also revealed that nine of the seventeen suspects attended the training camp last summer, where the terrorists shot video of their activities. Some of the activity mimicked jihadist battles in familiar territories: Afghanistan, Chechnya, Bosnia. Four of the men arrested will be charged with recruitment and/or training for terrorism, but not the one man everyone has identified as the leader of the cell, Qayyum Abdul Jamal.

Two of the suspects are already in prison for running guns across the US border. Ali Dirie and Yasin Abdi Mohamed were caught in August at the Fort Erie Peace Bridge with both loaded weapons and ammunition, and now will face more charges in this case. Fahin Ahmad rented the car they drove but did not get charged in the earlier case, but with his involvement in the cell now exposed, he will face those charges as part of his indictment now.

Others blogging: AJ Strata and Instapundit.

UPDATE:
Others blogging this stoy include Dan Riehl who notes that the encrypted CD that the FBI has been unable to decrypt was accompanied by a CD containing hardcore pornography, Flopping Aces who wonders whether any of this will make headlines in big media outlets, and Right Voices.

UPDATE:
The Washington Post details some of the targets that prosecutors allege the suspects intented to attack:

The men arrested in an alleged terrorism plot planned to storm the Canadian Parliament, take politicians hostage, and at least one wanted to behead the prime minister, according to a summary of allegations read into court Tuesday.

The summary from prosecutors, unexpectedly read into the court record in a procedural hearing by defense lawyer Gary Batasar, said the group planned to bomb hydro-electric plants in Ontario and targeted the CBC broadcast building in downtown Toronto.

The group planned to issue demands that Canadian troops be withdrawn from Afghanistan and that all Muslim prisoners held in Afghanistan be released.

The bizarre scenario offered the first details of the plot that police and intelligence agencies said they had disrupted in a series of raids overnight Friday. Twelve men and five teenaged boys were arrested. All are Canadian citizens or long-time residents of Canada.