After three years in prison, Saad Khalid admits the truth
A member of the so-called “Toronto 18” has admitted to participating in a secret plot to bomb Canadian buildings and kill innocent civilians. In a stunning development, Saad Khalid has pleaded guilty to a single charge of “intent to cause an explosion of an explosive substance that was likely to cause serious bodily harm or death.” The 22-year-old Mississauga man is the first of his fellow terrorism suspects to admit wrongdoing—and more importantly, the first to reveal that a bomb plot truly existed. The details of his involvement are still sketchy; Khalid’s guilty plea did not include a joint statement of facts submitted by the Crown and the defence, and his sentencing has been put off until June 22. However, it has been widely reported that unlike the majority of the “Toronto 18” members, Khalid was part of a trusted inner circle—“The Toronto 4,” if you will—who allegedly built remote-controlled detonators and tried to purchase three tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertilizer to be used in truck bombs. Now that Khalid has confessed, it’s hard to imagine how the other bomb suspects will mount a credible defence.