ONE of the 17 suspects charged with planning a series of bomb attacks in Canada was accused yesterday of a plot to behead the country’s Prime Minister, Stephen Harper.

The dramatic claim against Steven Vikash Chand, 25, a restaurant worker in Toronto, was made as the suspects made a brief court appearance. The attack on Mr Harper was reportedly to happen when Islamic extremists were to storm the Canadian Parliament and hold politicians hostage.

Mr Chand’s lawyer, Gary Batasar, said: “There’s an allegation apparently that my client personally indicated that he wanted to behead the Prime Minister of Canada. My client has said nothing about that.”

Mr Harper has held talks in recent days with President Bush about the case, which the FBI claims has links to six other countries, including Britain. The charges, which were read out in the Ontario Court of Justice, allege that Mr Chand plotted to hold politicians hostage until they could be exchanged for Muslim prisoners held in jails in Canada and Afghanistan.

Investigators with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police believe that the parliament building in Ottawa was among the targets to be bombed. Police claim that the group had obtained three tons of ammonium nitrate, which is three times the amount used in the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995.

Fifteen suspects were brought to court amid tight security in Brampton, west of Toronto. They were all refused bail and remanded in custody for a further five days.

Two of the suspects who were arrested were already serving prison sentences for smuggling guns into Canada and did not appear in court yesterday.

A list of charges alleges that 12 men, aged 19 to 43, were participating in a terrorist group. Nine face charges of receiving training from a terrorist group, while four are charged with providing training.

Six of that group are accused of taking part in a plan to “cause an explosion” likely to cause death, injuries and property damage. Three were charged with the illegal importation of guns and ammunition. Police also arrested five teenage suspects, who cannot be named for legal reasons. The charges against the five were not made public.

Lawyers were given an eight-page synopsis of charges against the men and bail hearings were set for June 12.

Last night police said that they expected to make more arrests. “We have by no means finished this investigation,” Mike McDonell, deputy commissioner for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said. “In fact, you might look at it that, really, we are just starting with the arrests. We have a responsibility to follow every lead.”

A US official involved in the international investigation said that he believes the Canadian suspects were “pretty far along in terms of attack planning”. He alleged that some of the men had been in contact with Islamic extremists in Britain.

Officials say that many of the 17 suspects had been radicalised “in a short period of time”. Families and friends of those arrested claim that they have no links to terrorism and say the police have made a mistake.

But Faheem Bukhari, a director of the Muslim Community Centre in Mississaugu, where six of the suspects are from, said: “These were very fun-loving guys, soccer-loving guys.

“Then all of a sudden they were not associating with guys they used to,” Mr Bukhari added, referring to the younger suspects.

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