By Barry Ellsworth
TRENTON, Canada (AA) - A father and son in the “advanced stages of planning a serious violent attack in Toronto” on behalf of the Daesh/ISIS terror group are facing terror charges, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) announced Wednesday.
Charges against Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi, 62, and Mostafa Eldidi, 26, who are Canadians, include conspiracy to commit murder to benefit or to follow the direction of a terror group.
A month-long investigation culminated in the arrests of the pair on July 28 at a hotel in Richmond Hill, a city that is part of the greater Toronto area. They had an axe and a machete at the time of their arrests.
“As you know, they were charged with having particular weapons,” RCMP Superintendent James Parr said at a news conference. “In other words, we're pretty confident how close they were to moving from simply having those tools and then moving on to actioning that threat.”
What form and where the attack would take place were not divulged. There is a publication ban on the information.
There is no danger to the public, however, said the RCMP.
“I want to emphasize there is no evidence to suggest that there is any remaining risk to the public,” RCMP Assistant Commissioner Matt Peggs said at the news conference.
The elder Eldidi is also alleged to have committed aggravated assault on behalf of the terror group outside Canada in 2015, according to CBC News.
The pair were in court to face the charges on July 29. They are scheduled to appear in court again Thursday.