BRAMPTON, Ont - The trial of a youth alleged to have been part of a terrorist plot to attack Canadian targets heard Tuesday that the group was seeking guns for all of its members.
Wiretap evidence played in court in Brampton, Ont., made frequent reference to "the guys'' needing "wives.''
The Crown alleges "wives'' and other references to women in the phone intercepts is coded language for weapons.
"Everybody's gotta have, like maybe, two, three, four wives,'' an alleged ringleader said in one call in January 2006.
"You gotta keep feeding them ... each one wants their own type of food.''
In another call, when asked if he's "got more food,'' the man replies: "Guy, I got like ... like 250.''
The youth's case is the first to go to trial after he was charged two years ago along with 17 others in connection with an alleged plot to attack power grids, Canada's spy agency, the RCMP and a nuclear power plant in Pickering, Ont., east of Toronto.
The wiretap evidence, combined with the testimony of police informant Mubin Shaikh, makes up the bulk of the Crown's case.
Defence lawyers have questioned the strength of the case after charges against seven of the accused men were stayed, whittling the so-called "Toronto 18'' down to 11.
Before the tapes were played Monday, defence lawyer Mitchell Chernovsky told the court his client is not a "featured speaker'' in many of the wiretaps.
Another wiretap allegedly captures the same alleged ringleader talking with a group member in Pakistan using "cryptic'' language about securing funds.
"We'll get you your funds, God willing,'' the man says during the call.
A conversation intercepted on Jan. 23, 2006 has another alleged group member asking the alleged ringleader: "Is your phone safe?''
Later that same day, while calling from his job at a gas station, the man says, "you know your phone is tapped like hell.''
The trial continues Wednesday.
