A youth has been arrested in Canada after an FBI tip-off on a charge of facilitating terrorist activity, authorities say.<\/p>\n
The Kingston, Ontario resident faces an additional count of counselling a person to plant an explosive with intent to cause death or injury.<\/p>\n
Police said a small plane recently spotted flying over the town at odd hours was part of their investigation.<\/p>\n
A second individual was also arrested, but later released without charge.<\/p>\n
The youth and the second person, an adult male, were detained on Thursday in Kingston, a city some 200km (125 miles) from Ottawa, the country’s capital.<\/p>\n
Authorities described the pair as friends.<\/p>\n
Under Canadian law, the identity of a youth accused of a crime is kept confidential.<\/p>\n
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Ch Supt Michael LeSage said the force had received the tip-off from the FBI in December.<\/p>\n
US authorities flagged to their Canadian counterparts a “substantiated and credible attack plot”, though there was no planned target or timeline, police said.<\/p>\n
One home was evacuated in the early morning hours on Friday after police found what they believe was an “explosive substance” that was detonated by police bomb squads.<\/p>\n
Ch Supt Lesage called the charges on Friday “significant”, but said there was no imminent threat to the community. The investigation is ongoing.<\/p>\n
The second person was identified by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as a 20-year-old man from a Syrian family.<\/p>\n
Kingston Archdeacon Bill Clarke confirmed to the BBC the family had come to Kingston as privately sponsored refugees in the summer of 2017.<\/p>\n
A coalition of local churches came together three years ago to bring a refugee family to Canada.<\/p>\n
Bronek Korczynski, one of the sponsors, told Reuters he was concerned the arrests could affect perceptions of Muslims and refugees in Canada.<\/p>\n
“That is a fear, because that’s the kind of ill-informed knee-jerk reaction that puts any group in potential harm’s way,” he said.<\/p>\n
The federal public safety minister said the country’s threat level remains at medium, where it has been since 2014.<\/p>\n
Canada’s Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale urged people on Friday not to jump to conclusions about the case before police had completed their work.<\/p>\n
Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"