OTTAWA, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- A Canadian Muslim played a major role in a failed 2004 terrorist plot, Canadian prosecutors allege.
Mohammad Momin Khawaja showed accomplices how to develop detonators, build a bomb and move money so that they could attack Britain, the prosecutors said in charges filed in Ottawa on Dec. 16.
Khawaja was arrested in 2004 as Canadian and British police staged coordinated anti-terror raids against nearly a dozen suspects. The charges filed in court last week say he was involved in several aspects of an alleged al-Qaida-style conspiracy, a scheme that was ultimately thwarted, the Globe and Mail newspaper reported Thursday.
Khawaja has been jailed for almost two years on charges of taking part in an alleged terrorist plot. Canadian prosecutors had revealed few details of his case until now. He is due to go on trial in the New Year and is the only person to face Criminal Code charges under the 2001 Anti-Terrorism Act.
The case is crucial because it will help determine whether Canada can openly prosecute terrorism cases within its borders.
