Ismael Habib thwarted RCMP's best-laid plans in terrorism investigation, court hears
RCMP officers had to scramble to produce new, creative undercover operations after Ismael Habib kept unwittingly thwarting their plans, a Quebec court has heard.
The RCMP officer who orchestrated nearly two dozen undercover operations, James Parent, testified for a second day at Habib's trial at the Montreal courthouse.
Parent explained that the RCMP tried to keep Habib living in one apartment and out of trouble but succeeded in doing neither.
Habib, 29, is accused of trying to go overseas to commit terrorist acts and of providing false information to obtain a passport. He was arrested in Gatineau, Que., in February 2016 on unrelated charges.
He was denied bail on those charges and was subsequently charged for the terrorism-related allegations.
Parent became involved in Habib's investigation in July 2015. He testified that he devised and helped to implement 22 covert operations, culminating in a Mr. Big-style sting which happened in February 2016.
The sting produced a confession from Habib, who said he wanted to go overseas to fight with ISIS. Whether that confession should be admitted as evidence will be ruled on by Judge Serge Délisle later in the trial.
Bad tenant
After monitoring Habib, police knew he didn't have a fixed address. One of the objectives of the undercover operations was to find him some place to live.
"He stayed a little bit everywhere," Parent testified.
He said the RCMP rented an apartment on Basile Patenaude Place, in the Montreal borough of Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, and made up a cover story so that Habib's friend Lyes — an agent — could give him the apartment.
But Habib was only there for a couple of weeks when he decided to move to Gatineau to move in with his new girlfriend.
After leaving the apartment, he allowed a family unrelated to the investigation to move into the apartment being paid for by the RCMP.
Parent said he then had to change gears, introducing a new RCMP agent to evict the family and to help bring Habib back to Montreal on various occasions.
Trouble with the law
To avoid compromising the terrorism-related investigation, Parent said he wanted to keep Habib from being arrested on unrelated charges.
In the various scenarios they played out with Habib, Parent's operatives told Habib not to try and have his girlfriend's car stolen and not to commit identity fraud, so that other police forces wouldn't arrest him and interrupt the undercover investigation prematurely.
Once again, Habib thwarted Parent's best-laid plans.
He was ultimately arrested for uttering threats and harassing his girlfriend in Gatineau, in late February.
It's unclear if the RCMP investigation was over at that time, however Habib had been meeting with undercover officers just hours before his arrest.
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