Canadian intelligence services and police have arrested two suspects involved in a planned terrorist attack on a passenger rail in Toronto.

30-year-old Chiheb Esseghaier of Montreal and 35-year-old Raed Jaser of Toronto were placed in custody after a year-long investigation which police say is not related to the Boston Marathon attacks. The two men are not Canadian citizens and authorities have not stated whether they were in the country legally or how long they’d been there.

Authorities in Canada and the United States worked together to break up the al-Qaeda backed plot that would have destroyed a passenger rail line in Toronto. The plot was in the planning stages, authorizes say, and there was never any danger to the public. The suspects may have had ties to al-Qaeda in Iran, but authorities say the plot was not state sponsored.

Chief Superintendent Jennifer Strachan of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the two suspects watched rail activity in the Toronto area for months. They targeted a specific route, she said, but no specific train. That route may have been a line between Toronto and New York, but authorities have not confirmed this.

 

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