Wait ... There's More ...

"Had this not happened in Ottawa, I believe there is no reason they would have detained him."
"So yes, there's no question in my mind that they are going and revisiting people that they've met with in the past or they've eliminated as not being threats. How it relates to Mr. Ansari, I think it's too early to say."
"They're making links to something that was looked at before, based on his tweets."
"That is ominous. An ongoing investigation where you allege somebody to be involved in terrorism offences, it could be for two or three years."
Anser Farooq, Muhammad Ansari defence lawyer

Well, terrorism is ominous, is it not? And it has been two years since police became aware that Muhammad Ansari had stockpiled "a surprising amount of firearms over a short period of time". And with that stockpile of weapons was also discovered a thumb drive accompanying them, with a file labelled "Taliban". Last week's surprise attack in Ottawa by an Islamist fanatic obviously spurred security services to look more closely at suspects under surveillance.

So, with the assumption born of the two-year-old investigation/surveillance concluding that Pakistan-born Anser Farooq is a member of a Pakistani terrorist group, a warrant was issued for his arrest and the Immigration Task Force duly took him into custody on Monday in Toronto. Immigration and Refugee Board member Mary Lou Funston ordered that he remain in custody during the investigation into his activities.

Which can only signal an urgency from within investigative and security groups to ensure that someone who has been under their close scrutiny for several years doesn't spring a copycat surprise on intelligence services by mounting a terrorist attack somewhere within Canada. The freshness of the two attacks, one in Quebec the second in Ottawa, targeting members of the Canadian Military has freshly energized law enforcement agencies and for good enough reason.

An additional three hundred staff have been assigned to the Integrated National Security Enforcement Teams to help in handling the increased workload involved in closer scrutiny of those Canadian Muslims felt to have been radicalized into Islamist jihad. Counterterrorism files have been reviewed, and those under investigation have been interrogated, in particular those presenting to authorities as "high-risk travellers" like Muhammad Islam who had his passport removed under fears he was planning to leave Canada for Syria.

In 2007, Mr. Ansari came to Canada as an immigrant through the family classification. He turned right around to return to Pakistan, remaining there for a year. Ontario Provincial Police four years on executed a warrant at the home where he lived with his brother in Peterborough, Ontario, to discover his cache of weapons which were seized, and Mr. Ansari charged with 21 offences relating to firearms possession.

On the memory storage device were materials such as "information relating to radical Islam; files labelled Shahadat ('martyrdom')", according to the IRB. The Ontario INSET unit was given possession of the material to enable them to launch their own investigation Mr. Ansari was arrested again, for mischief, having walked into a store and taken a stack of newspapers for Ahmadiyyah Muslims, a minority Islamic sect persecuted by mainstream Islam.

He returned to Pakistan in March of 2014 after a conditional discharge and a year of probation had elapsed. Returning again to Canada in April he informed the Canada Border Services Agency he was in pursuit of  a new enterprise, the establishment of a charitable enterprise. Instead, files of firearms and gun parts were discovered on his tablet. He accused the CBSA of confiscating his firearms because of racism relating to "the way he looked".

BANARAS KHAN/AFP/Getty Images   Pakistani pedestrians walk past graffiti and the flag of Ahle-Sunnat Wal Jamaat in March 2013. Based on the INSET investigation, the CBSA is now alleging Muhammad Ansari is a member of the Pakistani terrorist group Ahle-Sunnat Wal Jamaat, and had created and maintained the group’s official website.

Immigration officials have concluded from their investigation to date that Mr. Ansari is a member of a terrorist organization although he hasn't been charged with any crimes related to terrorism. He is a landed immigrant, not a Canadian citizen, and if the case against him is upheld, his permanent residency status will be revoked so he can be deported to Pakistan. Although he has his defenders, most notably his lawyer, his distorted view of violent Islam has no place in Canada.

The 30-year-old software designer has posted Twitter messages naming Malala Husufzai a liar, and posted as well a photograph on Facebook of a Toronto highrise building under which he has captioned the message: "If I only had a plane", according to the CBSA. CBSA officer Jessica Lourenco explained at Friday's hearing that he had posted "radicalized views" on Twitter demonstrating "disdain and anger toward Canadian officials"; that his postings were "in line with his extremist views."

He was described as an "integral member" of Ahle-Sunnat Wal Jamaat, a "militant organization" for which he created and maintained an official website. The organization had "engaged in acts of terrorism", was linked to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, the terrorist group held responsible for the murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl. Little wonder authorities took the care and caution to arrest the man while continuing their investigation.

Until, we can hope, his presence is purged forever from Canadian soil.