MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Montreal police arrested 10 young men at a local airport suspected of attempting to join Islamist groups in Syria and Iraq, Royal Canadian Mounted Police said on its website.
"The Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET) made a series of arrests last weekend in order to disrupt the plans of ten young Montreal residents suspected of wanting to leave the country to join jihadist groups," the police said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
An investigation is underway and detainee identities can not currently be revealed, according to the statement. The suspects' passports were confiscated.
2 December 2014, 09:52 GMT
Many Western citizens, including Canada nationals, have recently traveled to Syria and Iraq to join extremist groups, such as the Islamic State. The group’s intensive social networking propaganda efforts especially target young people.
The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence estimates that 20,000 fighters from around the world have joined the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. About 100 are thought to be Canadian citizens.
