BRAMPTON, Ontario (AP) — A Canadian judge has sentenced the ringleader of a homegrown terrorist plot to set off truck bombs in Ontario to life in prison.
Zakaria Amara, 24, pleaded guilty in October. He acknowledged being a leader of the so-called Toronto 18 plot to set off bombs outside Toronto’s Stock Exchange, a building housing Canada’s spy agency and a military base. The goal was to scare Canada into removing its troops from Afghanistan.
The 2006 arrests of Amara and 17 others made international headlines and heightened fears in a country where many people thought they were relatively immune from terrorist strikes.
Judge Bruce Durno said Monday that the attack would have been the most horrific crime in Canada’s history if the plot been successful.