A 26-year-old Somali immigrant admitted in a Canadian court admitted he was a member of the terrorist group known as the Toronto 18 and had obtained handguns in the United States for the alleged ringleader. Ali Mohamed Dirie also acknowledged that, even while behind bars serving a prison sentence for smuggling two guns into Canada, he had tried to buy more guns and recruit other inmates into the group.
For almost two hours, the Crown prosecutor Clyde Bond read a 28-page statement of facts in a Brampton courtroom. When he was finished, Dirie, dressed in a gray hoody, baggy jeans and a blue skullcap, was asked if he agreed it was accurate. He agreed and pleaded guilty on Monday to participating in the activities of a terrorist group. He is to be sentenced on Oct. 2. A second charge of committing an offense for a terrorist group was stayed yesterday. Dirie faces a maximum 10-year sentence.
