Four Canadian residents, including active members of the country’s military, were arrested in an alleged armed plot to take over land in the Québec area, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Tuesday.
The individuals — all in their 20s and 30s — are accused of stockpiling an extensive arsenal of more than a dozen explosives, 83 firearms and accessories, high-capacity magazines and roughly 11,000 rounds of ammunition, which the authorities seized in January 2024.
Three of the suspects are facing charges for taking “concrete actions to facilitate terrorist activity,” according to the release. “The three accused were planning to create anti-government militia. To achieve this, they took part in military-style training, as well as shooting, ambush, survival and navigation exercises. They also conducted a scouting operation,” it said.
The fourth suspect is charged with the illegal possession of firearms, prohibited devices and explosives. The group’s motive remains unclear.
Police identified the three suspects charged with terrorism as Marc-Aurèle Chabot, 24, Raphaël Lagacé, 25, and Simon Angers-Audet, 24. The fourth suspect was identified as Matthew Forbes, 33. The men appeared in court virtually on Tuesday and remain in custody, reported Canada’s public broadcaster, CBC.
It was not immediately clear whether they had obtained legal counsel.
An image from a video provided by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police shows a firearms training that the suspects are accused of taking part in. (RCMP/Reuters)
Jon Lewis, a research fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, said the case “fits neatly within the threat landscape that is anti-government extremism” that experts are now seeing across the West. “You see individuals with links to the military, you see young men in their 20s and 30s, you see a large amount of explosive devices, firearms, military equipment,” he said.
