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Terror suspects more ‘disgruntled’ than political: expert Alleged Canada Day bomb plot targeted B.C. legislature Daniel Palmer News staff
Boaz Joseph/Black Press
Heavy lifting Pacific Coast Weightlifting’s Rachel Siemens of Victoria competes at the B.C. Weightlifting Association’s 41st annual Sea Festival Open in Surrey on June 30. Siemens finished second in the women’s 75-kilogram weight class. She matched first place Prabdeep Sanghera in the clean and jerk at 110 kgs but was a few kilos shy of Sanghera in the snatch lift. Siemens, a UVic grad, ranked second at the Western Canadian Championships this year and is hoping to represent Canada at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. For more on Siemens, please turn to Page A17.
R E N O VAT I O N S
In the midst of Canada Day fanfare Monday, an inconspicuous couple strolled the grounds of the B.C. legislature with pressure cookers full of shrapnel and what they believed were active explosives. The bombs were hidden near the legislature building and left to detonate amongst 40,000 revellers. According to the RCMP, John Stewart Nuttall, 39, and Amanda Marie Korody, 29, had committed to their intended day of terror in early March, settling on Nuttall’s former hometown of Victoria during a national holiday for the senseless act. But unbeknownst to the Surrey couple, their every move – from site selection to bomb making to their retreat back to the Lower Mainland – had been meticulously monitored under the watchful eye of the RCMP and other federal intelligence agencies. At a press conference Tuesday, RCMP Asst. Commissioner. James Malizia refused to say if undercover officers were working with the duo, but admitted the improvised explosive devices were under police control at all times. If proven in court, perhaps the most unsettling aspect of Nuttall’s and Korody’s descent into indiscriminate violence is their “self-radicalization” in the absence of clear political motivation or
connection to a terrorist network, said University of Victoria professor Scott Watson, an expert in international terrorism. “This seems to be an escalation of criminality or criminal violence, not necessarily an escalation of political protest,” Watson said, after reviewing Nuttall’s convictions for mischief, robbery, weapons possession, assault and parole violations throughout the Capital Region since 1997. Korody has no criminal record. Most people who commit terrorist acts become involved in social and political movements, but the Canada Day suspects “appear to be two disgruntled Canadians who have read alQaeda material online and then have decided to take this type of action,” Watson said. Police said the pair were “inspired by al-Qaeda ideology,” and neighbours in Surrey reported hearing Nuttall shouting about jihad on the phone. “Likely very early on, these people were operating in online networks and likely triggered the attention of (the Canadian Security Intelligence Service) or perhaps U.S. intelligence networks. From that point on, it appears as though the Canadian authorities were out in front,” Watson said. Last May, the federal government released a 2011 review that studied the root causes of radicalization, only to conclude there were few “smoking gun” factors that led people to commit terrorist acts. PlEASE SEE: Terror suspects, Page A7