Toronto-area teen arrested over alleged plan to travel to join ISIS

A Toronto-area teen has been arrested on suspicion he was planning to travel abroad to join ISIS, CBC News has learned.

Court records show the RCMP applied last month for a terrorism peace bond in the case, which would restrict the movements of the 18-year-old from Newmarket, Ont. The accused can’t be named due to his age.

Although the defendant is an adult now, much of the allegations occurred while he was a young person, said Nathalie Houle, a spokesperson for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada.

The RCMP announced on Dec. 19 that it had received the attorney general’s consent for proceedings related to terrorism-related offences, but investigators declined to provide any specifics on the allegations, or the accused.

The court records obtained Thursday show the Mounties sought a peace bond against the teen on Dec. 18, alleging he may be planning to leave Canada to participate in the activities of the listed terrorist group, ISIS.

The teen was released on bail last month and is scheduled to return to court on Jan. 15. The RCMP said he faces strict court conditions, pending the outcome of the Mounties’ peace bond application.

The self-styled Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has come under renewed focus this week following the deadly truck attack in New Orleans, which authorities said was carried out by a U.S.-born ISIS supporter.

WATCH | Expert says ISIS will use New Orleans attack as recruitment propaganda:

ISIS will get ‘propaganda value’ from New Orleans attack, expert says

Colin Clarke, director of research at The Soufan Group, says the lethality and complexity of the vehicle ramming attack in New Orleans will be used in ISIS propaganda to radicalize others.

RCMP carried out two high-profile operations in 2024 targeting Ontario-based men accused of planning ISIS-inspired mass murders.

Father and son Ahmed and Mostafa Eldidi were arrested near Toronto in July and charged in connection with an alleged violent plot involving an axe and a machete. The elder Eldidi now also faces war crimes charges, after he was allegedly seen dismembering a man in a 2015 ISIS propaganda video recorded in Iraq.

Separately, the RCMP arrested Muhammad Shahzeb Khan in September. The Pakistani citizen living in Mississauga, Ont., was arrested in Quebec, near the U.S. border. U.S. investigators alleged Khan was en route to New York City, to carry out an ISIS-inspired ma

This article is republished from RCI.