The Free Press

Even the newspaper guys knew about the terrorist arrests beforehand  

In addition to being the most dramatic and frightening stories of arrests in a long time in Canada, the early details of the investigation of 17 Toronto men on suspicion of plotting to blow up the Toronto Stock Exchange give one of the strangest stories in Canadian police history, too.

First of all, though three tonnes of ammonium nitrate is involved, there is no indication any of the 17 men ever actually ordered, touched, or took possession of the stuff—one of the key ingredients in a crude style of bomb used by farmers to blow out stumps. As the Globe and Mail reports, “investigators allegedly delivered three tonnes of ammonium nitrate gardening fertilizer to the suspects in 25-kilogram bags shortly before they were arrested,” at a Newmarket, Ontario industrial park. This was a crude sting operation. Were the bags piled up at the door and then they banged on the door?

And for a big and very intense investigation with potentially world-shaking implications, there were sure a lot of people who had foreknowledge of the investigation and arrests. They include, according to the Globe and Mail, Stephen Harper, Prime Minister, and Bill Graham, interim Liberal party leader and leader of the official opposition, who said, “It has been going on for over a year now and certainly was something I was aware of.” Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty “told reporters . . . he first learned of the investigation in March.” Even Ontario Community Safety Minister Monte Kwinter said he was briefed “some months ago” about the Toronto men and the investigation. Federal Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day also knew. And all were given “a heads up before last weekend’s coordinated raids” as well.

Obviously police, including CSIS and RCMP—of whom apparently “hundreds” were involved and also, obviously, knew of the forthcoming raids—had absolutely no fear of word getting out to the suspects or any friends of the suspects regarding the forthcoming arrests. You would think that a group plotting something as dramatic as terrorist bombings would have all their ears up to detect any police surveillance—or at the very least you would think investigators would take extreme care to keep the imminent arrests as secret as possible. It would be a shame to do all that police work only to see the suspects go underground the day before the planned arrests because someone squawked to someone else. So how is it almost everybody in Ontario’s legislature and in Ottawa seems to have been receiving regular briefings for months on the progress of this investigation? How is it police had no fear the investigation would founder from leaks?

Other aspects of the unfolding news suggest foreknowledge could have spread to journalists at the newspapers. The National Post had a highly designed front page the morning after the arrests with a broad selection of stories already deep into exploring the implications for the popularity of Harper’s regime, the increased liklihood of victory for Conservatives in the next election, and interpretations of the arrests as leading to broadened public support for the unpopular Canadian deployment to Afghanistan.

The Globe and Mail is not far behind, with pages and pages of stores, including one examining the poor prospects of the entrapment defence, an anticipation of future legal strategies by the lawyers for the accused before anyone has even heard of a lawyer for the accused. Did this already prepared story fall out of the file a few days too early? In other articles, it seems foreknowledge of the arrests spread wider yet. The Globe and Mail and National Post both quote anonymous “counterterrorism officials familiar with the investigation.” Who are they, and for how long have they been talking to the newspapers about this impending arrest?

In a story about how a London terror suspect may have communicated with the Toronto men, including other intimate details of the case, the Globe and Mail quotes the following (all anonymous) sources: “US law enforcement officials and counterterrorism experts,” “officials,” counterterrorism officials familiar with the investigation,” “authorities,” “federal law enforcement officials,” “counterterrorism officials,” “many American officials,” “one federal official,” “Canadian authorities,” “US law enforcement officials,” and “Justice Department officials.” I’m a journalist, and I follow stories in this realm closely. Where do you go to hear these officials tell you these things? How come I never get to see or hear any of them?

And how come almost everyone and their spouse knew what was coming except, apparently, for the so-called suspects, victims of a police sting after police themselves delivered the incriminating evidence to the suspects’ door themselves? Me thinks the sting’s on us.