More information is coming to light about a Fort St. John man that was arrested Friday on charges of terrorism.
Court documents show three of the offences allegedly happened on March 21, 2015 and three on September 22, 2014 in Fort St. John. The RCMP have charged Hamdan with, counselling to commit murder for the benefit of a terrorist group, counselling to assault causing bodily harm for the benefit of a terrorist group and counselling to commit aggravated assault for the benefit of a terrorist group. Othman Ayed Hamdan, was arrested Friday by the RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team.
The Vancouver Sun has also discovered that Hamdan was operating a residential contracting company in Fort St. John called Noex Contracting. The phone number for the company is no longer in service, but WorkSafe B.C. took Hamdan and his company to court in April 2014 for an “enforcement action.” Records show Noex owed WorkSafe $5002.76.
Hamdan remains in custody and will appear in a Fort St. John court Monday.
Hamdan is 33 years-old and has been charged with, counselling to commit murder for the benefit of a terrorist group, counselling to assault causing bodily harm for the benefit of a terrorist group and counselling to commit aggravated assault for the benefit of a terrorist group.
According to the RCMP, a criminal investigation into Hamdan started in October 2014 and revealed that he was involved in posting pro-Islamic State (ISIS) propaganda online which included inducement and instructions to commit murder in the name of Jihad.
A search warrant was executed at Hamdan’s residence and a number of items were seized.
“Through the collaboration of our INSET, we were able to arrest this individual and disrupt his efforts to harm citizens across the country,” said Superintendent Dan Bond, Assistant Criminal Operations Officer, National Security for the RCMP in British Columbia.
Fort St. John Mayor Lori Ackerman told the Vancouver Sun the news of a terrorism arrest in Fort St. John came as “a surprise”.
“There is going to be people who are extremists from every facet of life. And so this gentleman happened to be here. He had access to the World Wide Web so his catchment area was global in nature if anyone was interested in reading his stuff,” Ackerman said. “The realities are this happened in Fort St. John. He could have been anywhere.”
Read the full article from the Vancouver Sun – Fort St. John man arrested on terrorism charges
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