Canadian police have arrested a man who they say was part of an Islamic State (Isis) recruiting cell and charged two other men who are overseas, one of whom may be dead.

Police said on Tuesday that they had arrested Awso Peshdary, 25, and charged him with participation in the activity of a terrorist group and with facilitating a terrorist group. Police also filed terrorism charges in absentia against Khadar Khalib, 23, and John Maguire, a 24-year-old convert to Islam. Both men had travelled to Syria. Maguire, who has appeared in an Isis video calling for attacks against Canadians, might have been killed recently, according to reports.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Chief Superintendent Jennifer Strachan said Peshdary had wanted to travel with Maguire, stayed in contact with him and together tried to send other Canadians to Syria to join the extremist group. Strachan said Khalib travelled to Syria in March 2014. Police said the men posted photographs and wrote comments on social media that demonstrated they either supported or were active members of Isis. She said that, despite reports, the RCMP has no evidence that Maguire is deceased. She said a tweet saying he is dead was not confirmation.

She said Peshdary was also the subject of a prior unrelated police counter-terrorism investigation, but said police only now had enough evidence to arrest him.

The arrest and charges are linked to three arrests last month in Ottawa. Police announced that Suliman Mohamed, 21, was charged with participating in a terrorist group. That arrest occurred just days after twin brothers linked to Mohamed, Ashton Carleton Larmond and Carlos Larmond, were charged with terrorism-related offences.

Carlos Larmond was arrested at Montreal’s airport on charges of intending to travel overseas for terrorist purposes. A senior government official familiar with the matter said that the brothers were trying to get to Syria. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly.

“It’s a cell in Ottawa. Their focus seems to be on overseas activities, not on carrying out terrorist acts at home,” the government official said.

Maguire appeared in a propaganda video in December urging Muslims to launch indiscriminate attacks against Canadians, similar to those carried out in October in Ottawa and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec.

In October, Canada was hit by two terror attacks by so-called lone wolves believed to have been inspired by Isis. In Ottawa, a gunman shot and killed a soldier at Canada’s national war memorial, then entered the parliament building before being gunned down.

The attack in Ottawa came two days after a man ran over two soldiers in a parking lot in Quebec, killing one and injuring the other. He was shot dead by police. The man had been under surveillance by Canadian authorities, who feared he had jihadi ambitions and seized his passport when he tried to travel to Turkey.

Canada is taking part in the US-led campaign against Isis in Iraq and Syria.