Globe and Mail Update
June 25, 2008
OTTAWA -- The nub of the case against the first man charged under Canada's antiterrorism act is contained in two significant - and uncontested - e-mails he wrote six months before he and a group of British suspects were arrested.
Defence lawyer Lawrence Greenspon admitted his client, Mohammad Momin Khawaja, 29, wrote messages that include clear references to building detonators, bringing recruits to a guesthouse in Pakistan and sending money and night-vision goggles to insurgents in Afghanistan.
The e-mails also discussed sending a friend on "a one-way-mission to the most high in Yahoodi land," which a Crown witness testified was in reference to an intended suicide bombing in Israel.
One e-mail sent by Mr. Khawaja said: "Bro, I will start on the remote devices thing right away and will let u know once we have it ready for testing. And I'll find some of the things for testing, Urea, nitro, phosphate, anything else we need?
The e-mails were entered into evidence on the third day of Mr. Khawaja's heavily guarded trial, as testimony from informant Mohammed Junaid Babar, 33, continued.
Mr. Babar, an American who was living in Pakistan at the time of the alleged conspiracies, didn't receive the e-mail in question but testified he was privy to much of what was being discussed. He said he had heard about other schemes, too, as Mr. Khawaja visited Pakistan.
These included "a project that Momin was working on with his brother" that called for outfitting remote-control model airplanes with explosives, Mr. Babar said.
Police raided the Khawaja family home in March, 2004, and court has heard the Crown say the RCMP seized a remote-controlled detonation device, guns, bullets, jihadi literature and $10,000 in cash.
None of Mr. Khawaja's family members were charged.
The seizures appear to have been foreshadowed by messages Mr. Khawaja wrote about six months earlier, while communicating with a British terrorist ringleader, Omar Khyam, now serving a life sentence in the United Kingdom.
They communicated on a shared Yahoo account, saving messages in "Draft" form so they would be less vulnerable to interception.
The e-mail was sent shortly after Mr. Khawaja's second trip to Pakistan, when, according to Mr. Babar, he brought over money, invisible ink and a medical kit for extremist associates.
The court also heard that Mr. Khawaja tried to revisit a training camp where he had fired off a rocket propelled grenade launcher a few months earlier, but was disappointed to learn there was no longer any ammunition for the RPG.
Mr. Khawaja is then alleged to have returned to Canada and redoubled his efforts to aid what he regarded as an international jihad against the West.
"We still don't have my house [in Pakistan] being used," he wrote in the Oct. 19 e-mail. "It's still empty so do you know any bros from the UK that wanna go to PK any time soon so we can put them up there."
A week later Mr. Khawaja sent a follow up message regarding remote controlled detonators.
"Ok nigga we can get the devices the cost to make em is about 4 pounds each, remote detonation, I think the range is about 2 kilometres ..."
He also suggested that a mutual friend, "Immy," known to the group as a mentally challenged loose cannon, had the makings of an excellent martyr.
"Also bro, when I was in PK me and Kash talked about Immy, what's he gonna do there? We have a suggestion to use the bro for a one way operation to the most high, maybe, in Yahoodi land."
This Sunday Oct. 19, 2003 draft message was saved to the account nicole_chic_shara@yahoo.co.uk , an account shared as a security measure so that Canadian terrorism suspect Mohammad Momin Khawaja and British terrorist ringleader Omar Khyam could communicate.
Both men were arrested for involvement in an alleged bomb conspiracy six months later. Mr. Khawaja visited Pakistan shortly before the e-mail was sent, and his defence lawyer admits his client wrote it.
"Nigga your message always give me a laugh! Yeah the porn vid's ain't ready yet. I just got back home. I met with Kman and he said that the faces of people that they did not want to show in public right now. I think maybe if we edit the video and block out some of the stuff then maybe Kman and all the other bros will agree to send the videos over. You can talk to Kman and tell him I can fix up the video's [sic] if you want. I also talked to him about the computer stuff , communicating safely, so I will try to set up something for the bros so we can have a better way of staying in contact.
"Kash is doing good. I gave him the money also and two phone cards with the numbers and explained the costs of using them in the mobile. We went to the village but none of the niggaz are there right now. Immy went for medical treatment to Pindi I think with the Doctor.
"The place looked good. Kash cleared up the trouble with the niggz and things are good now with all the people. But we still don't have my house being used. It's still empty so do you know any bros from the UK that wanna go to PK any time soon so we can put them up there. I need a solution for this bro, so try and ask around the bros, if anyone wants to head to PK they can live there.
"Also bro I will start on the remote devices thing right away and will let u know once we have it ready for testing. And I'll find some of the things for testing, Urea, nitro, phosphate anything else we need?
"But I think Kman said they needed night vision goggles and that stuff here is cheaper so if u want we can try to gets some for the bros from here at the cost of maybe 300 UK? I can look into it. Anything else bro that we need to do, or any help needed separately?"
A Message Mr. Khawaja wrote using the same account on Oct. 27, just over a week later:
"Ok nigga we can get the devices the cost to make em is about 4 pounds each, remote detonation, I think the range is about 2 kilometres, it is small in size. We can try a few out here and let u know how things go. Also I'm looking for the other things. Also bro, tell Kash to parcel the video from the summer. I can put something together here.
"Also bro, when I was in PK me and Kash talked about Immy, what's he gonna do there? We have a suggestion to use the bro for a one way operation to the most high, maybe, in Yahoodi land. What do you think."
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