A Toronto-area teenager has been arrested on suspicion of planning to travel abroad to join ISIS, CBC News has learned.
Court records show the RCMP applied for a terrorist peace bond last month, which would restrict the 18-year-old's movement from Newmarket, Ont. The name of the accused has not been released due to his age.
“Although the defendant is now an adult, most of the allegations occurred when he was young,” said Nathalie Houle, spokeswoman for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada.
The RCMP announced on Dec. 19 that it had received the attorney general's consent to proceed with terrorism-related crimes, but investigators declined to provide any details about the charges or the accused.
Court records obtained Thursday show the Mounties sought a peace bond against the teenager on Dec. 18, saying he may be planning to leave Canada to “participate in the activities” of the listed terrorist group, ISIS.
The teenager was released on bail last month and is scheduled to return to court on January 15. The RCMP said it faces “difficult court conditions” pending the outcome of the Mounties' peace bond application.
The self-styled Islamic State group has been the focus of renewed attention this week after a deadly truck attack in New Orleans, which officials said was carried out by a US-born ISIS sympathizer.
Colin Clark, director of research at The Soufan Group, says the lethality and sophistication of the vehicle ramming attack in New Orleans will be used in ISIS propaganda to radicalize others.
The RCMP carried out two high-profile operations targeting Ontario-based men accused of plotting an ISIS-inspired mass killing in 2024.
Father and son Ahmed and Mostafa Eldidi were arrested near Toronto in July and charged in connection with an alleged violent plot involving an ax and knife. The elder Eldidi is also now facing war crimes charges after allegedly dismembering a man in a 2015 ISIS propaganda video recorded in Iraq.
Separately, the RCMP arrested Mohammad Shahzeb Khan in September. A Pakistani citizen living in Mississauga, Ont., was arrested in Quebec near the American border. US investigators alleged that Khan was on his way to New York City to carry out an ISIS-inspired mass shooting at a Jewish center.
