Wednesday, January 20, 2010

ANOTHER GUILTY PLEA - AMIN DURRANI

*** Now if only a few more realized the error of their ways and fessed up - finally after years and after several guilty pleas, a few jail terms, one life sentence and a partridge in a pear tree.

Time served - he could be out as early as when the clock strikes 12 midnight.

And the AGENTS are the one's who have to leave their city, leave their friends so that these guys can get back out on the street? Wonderful. MS ***


FROM: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/753287--toronto-18-member-pleads-guilty?bn=1

Another member of the so-called Toronto 18 has pleaded guilty to participating in a terrorist group.

Amin Mohamed Durrani admitted Wednesday in a Brampton courtroom that he also participated in several training camps organized for the group.

Justice Bruce Durno sentenced him to 7.5 years but with credit for time served, the aspiring engineer must only spend one more day in custody and could be released after midnight.

“There are very, very serious aggravating factors,” Durno said. “There were deadly plans discussed and a target. Weapons were involved.

“It's clear he wasn't at the top … but it's clear he also wasn't at the bottom.”

It wasn't until intercepts were ruled admissible that his guilty plea was made, Durno said.

Durrani admitted he participated in the first camp between Dec. 18 and Dec 30, 2005 at Washago, Ont., where he helped train some of the younger members of the group.

He admitted he was part of the advanced group that set up the camp.

He also travelled with the leaders of the group to scout out a permanent base for their camp in northern Ontario. A rental house would have been used to store weapons and act as a safe house.

In addition, he was instrumental in planning another training camp in Rockwood, Ont., in May 2006 for younger recruits.

Durrani and others were training for what was called the “Battle of Toronto” — a terrorist plan to use three U-Haul trucks filled with fertilizer explosives to destroy several downtown buildings and surrounding areas.

In pleading guilty, Durrani admitted he was well aware of what the group planned to do, including cutting off the heads of various government officials.

“It is what I want to do,” Durrani said when asked if he had been pressured by anybody to plead guilty.

As part of his sentencing, he will submit his DNA to the national databank and is prohibited from possessing weapons for life.

Crown attorney Clyde Bond told the court that Durrani played a significant role as a member of inner circle of the group.

He was in on advanced planning of the Washago training camp and acted in a supervisory role. He actively participated in the search for a permanent base to train and store weapons.

He had extremist religious views until the time of his arrest, Bond noted, and was willing to leave his wife and family for the cause.

Bond had asked for a 7.5-year sentence.

Durrani apologized for his actions, telling the court what he did was done as part of his youthful “curiosity.”

“I did make a mistake. I was 19. I completely and fully realize what mistake I made,” he said.

“It's as if I feel I was stupid. What has been done is done and I have to live with it.”

He said he hopes to start a new life when he's released, and hopes to become an engineer.

“I want you to know my extremist views were out of curiosity,” he said. “I was young. I now realize that is not the way.

“(The) years in jail have made me realize this.”