RCMP arrest Ottawa youth in alleged terror plot targeting Jewish community | Globalnews.ca

Canada’s national police force has arrested a youth in Ottawa in relation to an alleged terrorism bomb threat against the Jewish community, Global News has learned.

Two national security sources said the alleged plot was believed to be religiously motivated and targeted against the Jewish community. A male youth – who cannot be identified due to his age – was arrested in Ottawa Friday night in what one source described as a significant national security investigation.

Global News has agreed not to identify the sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing investigation.

The youth appeared in an Ottawa courthouse Saturday morning, although the charges against him were not immediately available. He has been taken into custody until his next court appearance, scheduled for Monday morning.

A man who identified himself as the youth’s father Saturday said he “did not know what happened.”

The man, who Global News is not identifying, said that the youth’s mother told him he was picked up by the RCMP on suspicion he was planning an attack on Jewish people.

“Like something he and other people or something, or he (was) cooperating with other people to attack Jewish people or something like that,” the man said.

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“But I know because I know if (he) committed any act of terrorism, I don’t think so. I just saw him recently, I know he was fine. He was normal I mean … He’s too young. He doesn’t have any plan of terrorism attacks or something.”

A Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives (CBRNE) team was dispatched to the scene of the arrest, a senior national security source said.

A second national security source told Global News that the alleged plot appears to have been religiously motivated.

More to come.

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