Pair to face court over Canada train terror plot

Two will appear in court today accused of plotting a terror attack on a passenger train bound for New York.

The suspects Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, and Raed Jaser, 35, are charged with planning to derail the train as it crossed the Niagara River in Canada.

Canadian security forces thwarted the plot yesterday and told how the pair are believed to have taken “direction and guidance” from al-Qaeda operatives in Iran.

Esseghaier, of Montreal, and Jaser, of Toronto, will appear in court for a bail hearing today. The charges against them include conspiring to carry out an attack and murder people in association with a terrorist group.

Officials reportedly watched the men for more than a year and say the plot, targeting an American Amtrak or Canadian Via train, never got past the planning stages.

The operation is not believed to have any link with last week’s Boston Marathon bombings.

Neither of the men are Canadian citizens. Esseghaier is Tunisian and Jaser is from the United Arab Emirates.

Jennifer Strachan, chief superintendent of Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said the attack “was definitely in the planning stage but not imminent.” She added: “We are alleging that these two individuals took steps and conducted activities to initiate a terrorist attack. They watched trains and railways.”

The arrests came after the police were tipped off by members of the Muslim community in Canada.

Officers were later seen raiding Jaser’s house carrying away material which could be used as evidence in the suspects’ prosecution.

Esseghaier studied at the University of Sherbrooke near Montreal in 2008 to 2009. More recently, he has been doing doctoral research at nearby university, the Institut national de la recherche scientifique, where he was doing a PhD in nanotechnology.

On his LinkedIn page, there is a photo of a black flag inscribed with the Muslim declaration of faith: “There is no god but God and Muhammad is his prophet.” The same flag was used by al-Qaeda in Iraq and then started being used by radical Islamic groups in Egypt, Tunisia and Mali.