Three men charged with allegedly hunting Jewish women on Toronto streets to abduct and abuse them

A 26-year-old Toronto man has been arrested and charged with ISIS-linked terrorism offences and two other men are charged for alleged hate-motivated extremism targeting women and members of the Jewish community.

The federal terrorism investigation and related probes by Toronto police and Peel police follow violent incidents of armed men trying to abduct women from the street, one in May and two in June.

The RCMP charged Waleed Khan, 26, of Toronto with various terrorism charges including participating in the activities of a terrorist group and conspiracy to commit murder, for the benefit of, at the direction of or in association with a terrorist group.

The charging information names ISIS as the terrorist entity, also known as the Islamic State or ISIL.

Khan was also charged by Toronto police and Peel police, along with two other Toronto men — Osman Azizov, 18, Fahad Sadaat, 19.

The Peel charges, in August, are for kidnapping, firearms, auto theft, and others.

Toronto police also charged the three men for separate but similar attacks. The Toronto charges include kidnapping, attempted kidnapping with firearms, conspiracy to commit sexual assault, and hostage taking classed as hate-motivated extremism.

Khan has additional Toronto police charges including possession of weapons, assault with a weapon, careless use of a firearm and other weapon and theft charges.

The arrests are related to attacks in Toronto where armed men appeared to be hunting women for capture and abuse.

“We have arrested three individuals for offences targeting women and members of the Jewish community,” said Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw.

On May 31, a woman was approached by three men, one of whom was armed with a handgun and another with a knife, in the Don Mills Road and Rochefort Drive area of Toronto, police said. The suspects attempted to force her into a vehicle but fled when interrupted by a passing motorist.

On June 24, two young women were targeted in Mississauga on Ellesboro Drive near Swanhurst Boulevard. Three masked men pulled up in an Audi SUV armed with a handgun, a rifle, and knife, and chased the women and tried to grab them, police said. The men again fled after being interrupted by a passerby.

Peel Regional Police connected the two attacks and a joint investigation identified and arrested the suspects, police said. The joint probe was codenamed Project Neapolitan.

Khan was arrested for the Mississauga incident on Aug. 18, and at the time, Peel police said they were searching for two more suspects, described as Middle Eastern males, late teens to mid-twenties.

In Khan’s Toronto home, police said, they found two loaded prohibited firearms: an AR-style rifle capable of automatic fire and a pistol, both equipped with prohibited high-capacity magazines, along with over 110 rounds of ammunition. At the time of arrest, Khan was on probation for prior violent offences and prohibited from possessing firearms.

In late August, the two other men, Sadaat and Azizov were arrested.

“The evidence gathered expanded the scope of the investigation to include additional offences motivated by hate — particularly targeting women and members of the Jewish community. Investigators also uncovered links to terrorism, prompting a separate but parallel RCMP investigation,” Toronto police said in a release.

Friday’s announcement comes five days after the devastating massacre at Bondi Beach in Australia when two suspected jihadists shot and killed 15 people and wounded dozens more at a Jewish community event celebrating Hanukkah.

A court-imposed publication ban is in place in the Canadian charges preventing publication of some details in the case.

Khan’s terror-linked charges focus on alleged actions between June 17 and August 17.

“Waleed Khan did participate in the activities of a terrorist group by making himself, in response to instructions from any of the persons who constitute a terrorist group, available to facilitate or commit a terrorism offence or an act or omission outside Canada,” reads one charge.

“Khan did commit an indictable offence, to wit conspiracy to commit murder, for the benefit of, at the direction of or in association with a terrorist group,” reads another.

A charge of participating in the activities of a terrorist group alleges he provided property to be used to carry out terrorist activity or benefit someone carry out a terror activity, and another to fund a terrorist group. One charge alleges providing property to fund a terrorist group and another for using social media accounts to the benefit of a terrorist group.

He is also charge with conspiring with persons known and unknown to commit murder.

The federal charges were laid by the Central Region’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET), which is an RCMP-led joint task force focussing on threats to national security, criminal extremism and terrorism.

The RCMP said the investigation is ongoing.

Jewish community leaders are grateful for police arrests but fear danger looms.

“The details of the investigation indicate a grave threat, involving the Islamic State and attempts to target women and Jewish Canadians in the Greater Toronto Area,” said Noah Shack, CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.

“This goes far beyond the safety of any one group. It is a matter of national security and public safety. There is a ticking time bomb in our country that our leaders must confront before it’s too late. As we saw in Sydney, we are one intelligence failure away from a devastating loss of life. A lack of urgency on the part of our leaders puts Canadians in danger.”

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