Pressure Cooker Bomb Plot Thwarted in Canada

July 2, 2013 — -- Canadian authorities announced today they arrested two people who were allegedly planning to carry out a pressure cooker bombing near a government building during a major Canadian holiday.

John Stuart Nuttall and Amanda Korody, of Surrey, British Columbia, were arrested Monday and charged with conducting "terrorism-related activities, including taking steps to build and subsequently place explosive devices at a pre-determined public location in the city of Victoria in British Columbia for the purpose of causing death or serious bodily injuries on Canada Day," according to Royal Canadian Mounted Police Assistant Commissioner James Malizia.

"These individuals were inspired by al Qaeda ideology," Malizia said, but the pair was not directly linked to any overseas groups.

Photographs released by the RCMP show that among the evidence are three pressure cookers, similar to the pressure cooker devices used to house explosives in the Boston Marathon bombing in April, which killed three and injured more than 260 others. In that case, investigators said there was evidence the alleged perpetrators had been inspired by al Qaeda.

An RCMP official said, however, that the alleged plot was not inspired by the Boston Marathon attack.

RCMP Assistant Commissioner Wayne Rideout said that the devices in the alleged Canadian plot were "completely under our control, they were inert."

"I want to reassure our citizens that at all times during the investigation, our primary focus was the safety and protection of the public," Malizia said. "While the RCMP believes this threat was real, at no time was the security of the public at risk."

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