A 20-year-old man was formally charged Wednesday afternoon on terror-related charges in connection with Tuesday's standoff which forced 200 people to be evacuated from Pierrefonds.
Omar Elabi was arrested due to a video he allegedly posted on YouTube.
A citizen tipped off police to the video featuring someone allegedly making a bomb threat. Montreal police quickly traced the sender’s IP address to Laurin St. in Pierrefonds, leading to the evacuation and the raid.
Police found nothing dangerous, but felt that the material on the video could have led authorities to fear a terrorist attack.
Elabi was formally charged with creating that fear.
The prosecution is seeking a Peace Bond against Elabi, which would prevent him from leaving the country if he had terrorist intentions.
It also allows police to track his movements.
More details will be divulged Thursday during his bail hearing.
“We're talking about a threat. We're talking about the fact the video was threatening, was showing someone we believe was doing an explosive device and that's the reason it was considered a threat,” said Montreal police spokesperson Ian Lafreniere.
A La Presse report claims Elabi is the younger brother of known jihadist Sami Elabi, who left for Syria in 2013. In a widely circulated video, he could be seen praising the jihad and burning his Canadian passport.
Concordia University radicalization expert Andre Gagne said he's not surprised to see how a young man would want to follow his older brother.
“They feel in a sense some kind of empathy and this empathy... empathy can be a good thing, but empathy can also generate violence sometimes, when you identify with a cause that takes you to heart,” he said.
Another arrest at RCMP HQ
The RCMP also arrested a second man who broke into their headquarters, possibly with terrorist intentions.
Sidy Mouhamoud Keita, 19 from Greenfield Park, was charged with breaking into RCMP headquarters in Montreal, and again behaved in a way that has authorities believe he may have wanted to commit a terrorist act.
He was denied bail, and will return to court Thursday.
