Chapter 9 – Financing the Toronto 18

Abstract

The
thwarted Toronto 18 terrorist plot was an early indication of
things to come for terrorist financing in Canada and internationally.
The self financed plot demonstrated how terrorist cells, even those
not directed by a terrorist group, could obtain enough money to fully
fund a sophisticated and complex attack. In total, the main elements
of the Toronto 18 plot likely cost thousands of dollars, but the
organiz ers of the plot had accumulated far more than they needed for
the components of the attack and had enough money to rent a safe
house, pay for plane tickets to escape prosecution after the attack, and
develop a plausible cover story for their activities. De spite the
financial elements of the plot, no terrorist financing charges were laid
in the case. This may have been due to the lack of international
funding of the plot and a conceptualization within Canada’s law
enforcement and security services at the tim e that terrorist financing
came from “ The lack of financing charges in this case may
have had longstanding implications in Canada, where, to date, very
few charges of this nature have been laid, even 15 years after the plot
was disrupted.