OTTAWA—An Ottawa-based terrorist cell with international connections was only “months” away from exploding bombs on Canadian soil, a senior RCMP official said Thursday.

The three suspected home-grown terrorists arrested over the past two days — two in Ottawa and one in London, Ont. — are charged in connection with a plot to make and detonate improvised explosive devices as well as financing terror groups operating in Afghanistan.

The arrests follow a year-long investigation and have stopped an imminent threat to targets not only in Ottawa but possibly across the country, said Chief Superintendent Serge Therriault, the RCMP’s chief of criminal operations in the nation’s capital.

Police refused to identify the targets of the alleged terrorists, saying that information would come out in court.

Over a 36-hour period, the RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team arrested Hiva Mohammad Alizadeh, 30, and Misbahuddin Ahmed, 26, in Ottawa, and Khurram Syed Sher, 28, in London, Ont. All are being held in custody.

Police allege that since February 2008, the three men conspired with three others — James Lara, Rizgar Alizadeh and Zakaria Mamosta — in a terrorist plot they have traced back to Iran, Pakistan and Dubai.

Therriault said police seized more than 50 electronic circuit boards that could be used to produce improvised explosive devices, or IEDs — the same lethal bombs involved in the majority of deaths and injuries of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan.

“This group posed a real and serious threat to the citizens of the national capital region and Canada’s national security,” Therriault said.

Alizadeh alone faces charges of making or possessing explosive devices for terrorist purposes and terrorist financing. Police allege he is an active member of an unnamed terrorist group, with which he remains in close contact.

“Part of the decision to make the arrests at this time was to prevent the suspect from providing financial support to terrorist counterparts for the purchase of weapons which would in turn be used against coalition forces and our troops (in Afghanistan),” Therriault said.

Two of the men appeared in a small courtroom Thursday in Ottawa.

First up was Alizadeh, who is more than six feet tall and thin, sporting a bush beard and wearing glasses, a knitted skull cap and an open-neck checked shirt. He was followed by Ahmed, about five feet, 10 inches tall with a stocky frame, wearing a beige pullover and sporting a neatly trimmed beard.

Both men were put over for a video appearance on Sept. 1.

“He is in shock, that’s all I can say,” Ahmed’s Ottawa lawyer Ian Carter told reporters after his court appearance.

Sean May, lawyer for Alizadeh, said the charges against his client were very serious and that his client was “very concerned.”

“They are very serious charges, no question about that. They are the most serious charges you can face except for a murder charge,” he said.

The CBC reported that Alizadeh lived in Manitoba for some time and attended Red River College in Winnipeg before coming to Ontario

A medical graduate of McGill University, Sher is studying pathology at the St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital in London. Ahmed had worked for two years as a radiography technologist at the Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in Tuktoyaktuk, NWT, Thursday that terror networks threatening western nations have a global reach.

“They exist not only in remote countries but through globalization and the Internet, they have links in our country and all through the world,” he said.

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Public Safety Minister Vic Toews would not address any of the specific details investigators made public Thursday, but he spoke about the threat to the country from people who become “radicalized” and decide to fight their religious conflict on Canadian soil.

“Canada is not immune and that’s why Canada must remain vigilant,” Toews said in Winnipeg.

Anthony Seaboyer, head of the proliferation security research group at the Queen’s University Centre for International Relations, said the case should rattle Canadians, who have become complacent about threats at home.

“To hear how well organized they appeared to be, and connected internationally to some extent, is quite scary,” he said.

The arrests and previous convictions of others prove a “terrorist menace” exists in Canada, said Raymond Boisvert, assistant CSIS director.

“There are certain individuals in Canada who have adopted an ideology inspired by international terrorist groups who promote heinous violence to achieve their goals,” he said. “Recent criminal convictions of individuals in Canadian courts on terrorism charges have underscored the reality of a terrorist menace within our borders.”

With files from the Canadian Press

Alleged terror plot

Partial text of the charges against Hiva Mohammad Alizadeh, Misbahuddin Ahmed and Khurram Syed Sher:

1. That Hiva Mohammad Alizadeh, Misbahuddin Ahmed and Khurram Syed Sher, between the 1st day of February, 2008 and the 24th day of August, 2010, did conspire with James Lara, Rizgar Alizadeh and Zakaria Mamosta, and person or persons unknown, at or near the City of Ottawa, province of Ontario, and elsewhere in Canada, and in Iran, Afghanistan, Dubai and Pakistan, to commit an indictable offence, to wit: knowingly facilitating a terrorist activity.

2. That Hiva Mohammad Alizadeh unlawfully did, between the 1st day of September, 2009 and the 24th day of August, 2010, in the City of Ottawa, province of Ontario, commit an indictable offence, to wit: making or having in his possession an explosive substance with intent thereby to endanger life or cause serious damage to property, or to enable another person to do so, in violation of s. 81(1)(d) of the Criminal Code, for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a terrorist group.

3. That Hiva Mohammad Alizadeh unlawfully did, between the 1st day of September, 2009 and the 24th day of August, 2010, in the City of Ottawa, province of Ontario, and elsewhere in Canada, directly or indirectly, collect property, provide or invite a person to provide, or make available property or financial services, knowing that, in whole or in part, they will be used by or will benefit a terrorist group.

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