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They have been reviewing counter-terrorism files and questioning those they have under investigation, notably those deemed “high-risk travellers” like Toronto resident Muhammad Islam, whose passport was seized last year over allegations (which he denies) he was planning to travel to Syria. Mr. Islam said the RCMP met him the day after the Ottawa attack.

Mr. Farooq said clients had called him to say they had also been contacted by the RCMP and Canadian Security Intelligence Service since the attacks. “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,” he said. “How it relates to Mr. Ansari, I think it’s too early to say.”

A native of Pakistan, Mr. Ansari arrived in Canada as a family class immigrant in 2007. He returned to Pakistan immediately and remained there until the following August. Four years later, the Ontario Provincial Police executed a warrant at the Peterborough, Ont., home where he lived with his brother. His guns were seized and he was charged with 21 firearms-related offences.

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Police also seized a memory storage device they believed he had tried to conceal. On it were materials the IRB described as “information relating to radical Islam,” such as files labeled Shahadat, which can mean “martyrdom.” It was handed to the Ontario INSET, which launched its own investigation.

Before the firearms charges were resolved, Mr. Ansari was arrested once again, this time for mischief. He allegedly walked into a store and took a stack of newspapers meant for Ahmadiyyah Muslims, a minority branded as heretics by Sunnis and often subjected to violence at the hands of extremists.