VANCOUVER, July 2 (Xinhua) -- Canadian police in British Columbia have arrested and charged a man and woman with three terrorism-related offenses after foiling their plot to set off bombs outside of the provincial legislature building in Victoria as the country celebrated Canada Day Monday.
At a press conference Tuesday in the Vancouver suburb city of Surrey, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) announced they had arrested John Stewart Nuttall and Amanda Marie Korody after three pressure-cooker bombs, similar to those used in the Boston Marathon attacks in the U.S. on April 15, were found outside the legislature building.
RCMP assistant commissioner James Malitzia said at no time was "the security of the public at risk."
"The charges are result of a RCMP investigation named Project Souvenir launched in February 2013," he said. "Based on information received from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, these individuals were inspired by al Qaeda ideology. Our investigation demonstrated that this was a domestic threat without international linkages."
RCMP assistant commissioner Wayne Rideout said the suspects were both Canadian born who had "self-radicalized." He listed Nuttall as age 38 and Korody at 28 or 29.
"This self-radicalized behavior was intended to create maximum impact and harm to Canadian citizens at the B.C. legislature on a national holiday. They took steps to educate themselves and produced explosive devices designed to cause injury and death," Rideout said.
"The RCMP deployed significant resources over the past five months. The suspects were committed to acts of violence and discussed a wide variety of targets and techniques."
Rideout added a number of investigative and covert techniques had been deployed during the probe and the devices were " completely under our control."
He described the devices as inert and at no time representing a threat to public safety. "With the suspects in custody and scheduled to appear in Surrey provincial court Tuesday, Malitzia could provide little more details of the case. But there is no evidence to indicate that these individuals had the support or were acting at the direction of a terrorist group per se," he said. "Again, this is a very complex issue when we talk about radicalization to violence when individuals self-radicalize to violence."
On April 22, Canadian authorities foiled a plot by two men who they said were backed by al Qaeda to blow up and derail a Toronto passenger train.
China's weekly story (2013 6.22-6.28)
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