Scot was behind Canadian terror plot
There is much more.PARLIAMENT Hill is the cradle of the Canadian nation and Ottawa's biggest tourist attraction, its centrepiece the 295ft Peace Tower. Built in the mid-19th century, it is the heart of power in one of the most stable democracies in the Western world - and it was here that Islamist extremists plotted to carry out their most audacious atrocity since 9/11.
The plan was brutally simple. Armed jihadists would burst into the debating chamber and hold hostage the MPs inside while demanding Canada withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. Refusal to concur with such a demand would then lead to the summary execution of the country's prime minister, Stephen Harper, who would be beheaded live on the internet.
Among the terrorists, according to security sources, would be a Scot. Mohammed Atif Siddique, a polite and well-spoken 21-year-old born in Alva in Central Scotland, had left the family home in the pursuit of his goal of Holy War, and the Ottawa operation was to be his moment of bloody glory.
Ultimately, thanks to good intelligence gathering on the part of the Canadian authorities, the Ottawa plan failed and most of the alleged conspirators are currently in custody in Canada awaiting trial. Siddique, however, is not among them. Last week, a jury at the High Court in Glasgow convicted him of a string of other terror-related offences and he now faces up to 15 years behind bars.
As a result of an extensive surveillance operation involving the GCHQ electronic eavesdropping centre in Cheltenham, detectives from Central Scotland Police working on 'Operation Niche' seized his computer and passed it on to experts from the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit.
From it, they discovered he had accessed hundreds of Islamist-based web pages containing training material on terror techniques and documents extolling the virtues of martyrdom. There were also images of insurgent attacks in Iraq and footage of beheadings. Accessing such information is a crime under Britain's newly strengthened terror laws.
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His lawyer, Aamer Anwar, claims Siddique is "more Austin Powers than James Bond". But the security services, claiming more knowledge about Siddique than was revealed in court, paint a very different picture. They say Siddique was being groomed as Scotland's first known al-Qaeda operative, trained to be a sophisticated combatant, using his mundane upbringing and background to fool those around him into believing he posed no threat to society.
Siddique's conviction has political repercussions too. In the aftermath of the Glasgow Airport terror attacks, First Minister Alex Salmond made a point of saying the men believed responsible were not home-grown Scots, and that Scotland should be reassured there was no enemy within. Now, with Siddique found guilty and the security services estimating there are 150 terror suspects in Scotland - including a number of native Scots - Salmond's self-congratulatory tone could be seen as complacent.
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It is interesting that the Scots had no difficulty getting a wire on this guy and it really paid off. Democrats are probably appalled. It also is further evidence of how the enemy is infiltrating through local Muslims in some countries. this means that the mosques in these countries need to be under constant surveillance.
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