This may have nothing to do with jihad, of course. There are no doubt other groups that would like to get hold of an anti-aircraft missile. And there is also this story from Los Angeles: "Pilot Reports 'Missile' Fired at Jetliner Near LAX."
Whether or not these two incidents are jihad-related, they could indicate that the jihadist dream of wreaking such mayhem in the United States could become a reality, and not too long from now.
From AP, with thanks to Sr. Soph:
Police pulled over a tractor-trailer loaded with anti-aircraft missiles on an Ontario highway Friday.Several police cruisers were needed to pull over the vehicle on Friday as it traveled westbound on Highway 407, near Toronto and its international airport. The Canadian Army was investigating the incident.
I heard that story on the radio and there was a problem with the driver mixing up the delivery dates for APC's to a Canadian Military Base , the truck was one day late and the Police saw the flatbed with 2 APC's and pulled it over to check on.
But the real story a few days earlier was a Police chase of a stolen car that crashed and the persons inside lived and hijacked the Police car and headed for the Nuclear Power Plant , Police would not reveal why the crooks were hell bend on getting into the Plant since they rammed the security gate and were stopped a short distance from it when the Cruiser conked out from damage.
What is typical of these stories, you never hear of the truth if it might just be dangerous and make people more nervous.
Also this week in England the police arrested a man who was part of a plot to acquire a surface-to-air missle to shoot down a transatlantic jet.
Here's Saturday's story from the Globe and Mail:
Driver arrested after wrong turn with military cargo bound for storage
By OLIVER MOORE AND TIMOTHY APPLEBY
Saturday, December 3, 2005 Page A23
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20051203/MISSILE03/National/Idx
A driver transporting military vehicles equipped with missile launchers was nabbed northwest of Toronto on Highway 407 yesterday after making a wrong turn that had him headed away from his destination.
Police in several cruisers swooped down on the tractor-trailer after satellite tracking showed that the driver, who was already a day late with his delivery, was not on the way to Montreal.
"I think he may have been dealing with some personal matters," said Jason Maclean, general manager of The Camlane Group, which was hired by the Armed Forces to ship the vehicles.
The movement of the military vehicles -- armoured personnel carriers known as M113A3s -- was part of a military strategy to shift from tracked to wheeled APCs, said military spokesman Major Daryl Morrell. The surplus tracked vehicles were to be put into storage in Montreal.
This type of vehicle is designed to carry ground-to-ground missiles that can knock out opposing light vehicles. Although they are topped with menacing-looking missile tubes, the vehicles in this incident were carrying no weapons.
The vehicles were to have been shipped Thursday from a military base in Meaford, Ont., on Georgian Bay, but a day later had not begun the journey.
When the truck transporting them finally rolled out yesterday, staff at The Camlane Group who track shipments using a global positioning system noticed it was headed in the wrong direction.
"So, following protocol, I called the police," Mr. Maclean said yesterday. "If I can't establish an open line of communication with the driver, I inform police right away. So I just followed the rules."
According to Constable Jennifer Bryer, a Peel Regional Police spokeswoman, a stolen-vehicle alert was disseminated countrywide. A description of the material loaded on the trailer of the missing truck was broadcast as well, she said, to help police find the vehicle.
"Obviously, with the equipment on the vehicle, it would have raised more concern than a normal missing vehicle," Constable Bryer said.
An unmarked police cruiser with the York Regional Police fleet noticed the missing vehicle near Toronto and called for backup.
The truck was pulled over by a swarm of police cars on Highway 407 and the driver bundled into the back of a cruiser.
The driver, who was not identified, was taken into custody then released.
Constable Bryer said the heavy police presence was because of overlapping jurisdictions and because "you never know."
Major Morrell said the Department of National Defence is viewing the errant shipment as "an isolated incident."
Mr. Maclean concurred, saying: "We've never had an incident like this. It's just an internal matter, between us and our driver," he said, noting that the Brampton-based company is a family business that has been transporting military gear for about five years.
"DND is a very important customer of ours. We always treat it with the utmost respect and professionalism and we seem to have an isolated incident here."
The APCs were loaded yesterday onto another truck and sent on their way to Montreal.
UPDATE from ala-sux
Here's the Ottawa Citizen story with a photo of the flatbed stopped on the shoulder of the highway, the M113 APC's do have a rocket turret on top but the story above makers it sound like only rocket launchers we involved.
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/story.html?id=380471ad-35a5-4c1f-b5e6-250be2f69def&k=12556
If the driver's name is Abdul, I'd have to worry. Otherwise this just looks like a typical case of Canadian stupidity.
This is just in. Apparantly the driver was not a muslim but was a young French Canadian who was headed back to Montreal because he was upset about his treatment in Toronto. This is the statement he gave to the authorities after he was apprehended:
"You know, jeescise, I doan like Toronto wortha shit, dey gut no gaddam hospitality.
In the morning I'm going to a cup of coffee shop for get me some brekfuss and I'm tell de girl, please I wan two pizz toast. She bring me wun pizz. So I say to her, hexuse me, but I wan to pizz. She say, if you wan to pizz go to the men's room. I say, you doan hunderstan.
Then she bring me wun spoon, wun knife and wun napkin. She doan bring me no fock. I say, lady I wanna fock. She say, you don't care where you do it you dirty sonnavebitch and I get mad and walk out.
I go to check out at de hotel and I'm tell de guy, I'm gonna check out for Montreal. He say, well my friend, goodbye and peace be on you. I say, pizz on you too, you dirty sonnavebitch.
I'm so mad in de face, I feel I can lick any man, twice my heavy and half my old.
Paul, ala-sux,
Thanks for these contributions.
Jsla,
No thanks, for your contribution.
Don't mention it.