Several cases involve Tamil Tigers and their supporters
The RCMP disrupted 14 suspected terrorism cases in recent months, including several without charges or publicity.
The cases all involved suspected national security-related criminal acts and the Mounties' national security enforcement teams and sections, according to the force's fiscal 2008-2009 performance report tabled in the Commons.
Buried deep within an attached document, police reveal they disrupted the activities of the 14 groups and/or individuals during the year. Though no additional details are offered, a handful of the cases were publicized.
At least four involved suspected operations of the Tamil Tigers, the separatist guerrillas defeated by Sri Lankan government forces in May following more than 25 years of civil war.
"Prosecutions are by far the preferred path, (but) it's just not always possible," Assistant Commissioner Bob Paulson, head of the force's National Security Criminal Investigations unit, said in an interview.
Disrupting a suspected terror activity using, for example, search-and-seizure tactics, is a "good way of engaging the threat," Paulson said when a criminal prosecution isn't feasible. "Disruptions," however, are still quantified and reported as a
- additional way to evaluate the force's counter-terrorism effectiveness and to help justify the expenses of often lengthy and complex investigations.
The other known Tamil cases include police raids and the seizure of property and bank accounts against the Toronto and Montreal offices of the World Tamil Movement, which the RCMP says is the Canadian financial and propaganda support wing of the outlawed Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE).
Another case was the March 2008 arrest of a man in Vancouver who became the first Canadian charged with terrorist financing for allegedly raising money for the LTTE.
As well, the Mounties arrested and extradited three Tiger supporters to the United States, where they were recently convicted on charges related to buying anti-aircraft missiles and other weapons for the rebels.
Rounding out the bottom end of the 14 cases were four involving terrorist hoaxes and public mischief charges. One involved a Mississauga man who allegedly phoned Toronto police to report that a right-wing Muslim group was planning to make a name for itself by blowing up a mall in New Jersey.
News of the 14 cases follows a major speech in Ottawa last week in which RCMP Commissioner William Elliott said disrupting credible and imminent threats without sufficient evidence to justify criminal charges is sometimes necessary.
But, "counter-terrorism measures based exclusively on intelligence that falls short of the evidentiary threshold are fraught with danger and difficulty," he added.
In future, countering the dangers posed by terrorism will require the RCMP to take on a greater responsibility for national security, which is now largely the domain of the civilian Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
By putting more terrorism cases before the courts and more terrorists in jail, "I believe that law enforcement and criminal prosecutions will be the new paradigm of national security in democratic nations the world over," he said.
imacleod@thecitizen.canwest.com
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